“A special pardon for your son through a lawmaker” ... Acquaintance swindles 200 million won by exploiting a mother’s love [The Swindlers]

[Financial News]“Send 30 million won in legal fees to my account, and I’ll introduce you to a lawyer I know.”Those were the words A said to a woman who was a longtime acquaintance in December 2022. At the time, the victim was seeking help because her son, who was serving in the military, had become involved in a sex-crime case. A approached her, offering to introduce a lawyer, but had planned from the outset to use the money for personal purposes. A later invoked connections with military officers and a lawmaker, and swindled her out of more than 200 million won over roughly two years and four months.
According to legal circles on the 6th, Judge Chu Jin-seok, presiding over a single-judge criminal case at the Seoul Eastern District Court, sentenced A, who had been indicted on fraud and violations of the Attorney-at-Law Act, to two years in prison on the 27th of last month and ordered the forfeiture of 5 million won.
The case began in December 2022. After hearing from the victim, a longtime acquaintance, that her son, who was serving in the military, had become involved in a criminal case on charges including producing and distributing sexually exploitative material involving children and adolescents, A planned the crime. A demanded money, saying, “I’ll introduce you to a lawyer I know through an acquaintance. The lawyer’s fee will be 30 million won, and if you deposit it into my account, I’ll pass it on to the lawyer.”
In fact, the initial cost of hiring a lawyer was only 10 million won, and the total cost—including the lawyer’s participation in the investigation, fees for the appeal, and a settlement with the victim—came to just 38 million won. Investigators found that A had intended from the outset to use the money received from the victim for personal expenses, such as living costs, instead of passing it on to the lawyer.
Starting with a 2 million won transfer from the victim to A’s account on December 12, 2022, A swindled her out of 197.64 million won in a total of 55 transactions over roughly two years and four months, through April 2025.
The fraud went beyond swindling her out of legal fees. On January 12, 2023, A visited a café in Seoul’s Songpa District run by the victim and demanded money and valuables, saying, “I’ll go and ask the battalion commander, senior warrant officer, and company commander in your son’s unit to look after him.” In particular, A deceived her by saying, “It would be awkward to give cash to the company commander, so I’ll give his wife a Louis Vuitton wallet,” and obtained 2 million won in cash and a luxury wallet worth 500,000 won the next day.
After the victim’s son was sentenced to three years in prison and the sentence became final on December 15 of that same year, A dangled a special pardon for Liberation Day as the next lure. A demanded more money, saying, “I’m close to a lawmaker who’s like an older brother to me. Through the lawmaker’s aide, I was introduced to someone who can get his name on the Liberation Day special-pardon list.” A then asked the victim to buy Lotte Department Store gift certificates with cash, saying 500,000 won had to be given to the aide and 1 million won to the person who would put the son’s name on the list.
The court viewed the fact that A exploited the victim’s difficult circumstances, as she struggled with her son’s criminal case, to swindle her out of a large sum as a serious matter.
The court noted, “A swindled her out of large sums under the pretext of lawyer’s fees and settlement money, and took additional money under the pretext of soliciting favors to make the criminal case go away,” adding that “the offense was extremely serious.”
The court considered it an aggravating factor that the losses totaled 202.64 million won but only 20 million won had actually been repaid, leaving most of the losses uncompensated, as well as the fact that A had a prior conviction for a similar offense.
Taking into account that A admitted to the crime and showed remorse, and promised to repay the remaining losses, the court sentenced A to two years in prison. It also ordered the forfeiture of 5 million won and dismissed the victim’s application for a compensation order because it had been filed after the close of arguments.
[email protected] Lee Dong-hyeok Reporter