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By Kim Rahn
A man has been jailed for swindling his girlfriend's mother out of over 30 million won by lying about his academic record and career, a local court said, Sunday.
The man told the victim's family he graduated from prestigious schools here and abroad. But in reality, he was a day laborer with no such credentials.
The Daejeon District Court said it recently sentenced the man, 47, to 18 months in prison on charges of fraud.
"It was a typical romance scam, swindling money out of the girlfriend and the family by lying about academic achievements and career. The victim and her daughter not only suffered financial losses, but serious mental pain as well," the court said in the ruling.
The man told the mother of his girlfriend in January of 2016 that he had graduated from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and obtained a doctorate of engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He said he had worked at General Electric in the U.S. and was working as a freelancer in Korea at the time.
After gaining the trust of the mother and pretending he wanted to marry her daughter, he asked her to lend him 2 million won ($1,790) saying he was embroiled in a lawsuit with his stepfather and would pay back the money when he won the suit; a request to which she complied by giving him the loan.
The man continued borrowing money from her, citing an additional lawsuit and some other reasons, totaling 32 million won on 17 different occasions from January 2016 to April last year.
The family eventually turned to the police as their suspicions grew. A police probe found he had no diplomas from the prestigious schools; was not involved in a lawsuit with his stepfather; and that he was a day laborer.
"The accused took advantage of the girlfriend's affection for him and the mother's maternal love," the court said. "The victim was swindled out of money which she had kept for her retirement and the daughter's marriage. The accused has not yet provided any compensation for the damage and he is also unlikely to do so in future. We set the sentence by taking note of the fact that the victim is calling for heavy punishment and that the man has a previous fraud conviction."
