When you are accused of fraud over a second-hand sale

In second-hand sale cases, the trading app records are practically everything. Start by preserving the records and working out the scale.

• Take screenshots of the listings, chat rooms and payment records, and do not delete your account
• Write the police stations that contacted you, the investigators and the case numbers on one page
• Make a table of each buyer with the date, item, amount and whether you refunded
• Send whatever items you can, and refund right away whatever you can
• If several police stations have contacted you, ask the investigator to bring the cases together in one place

Posting new listings to raise refund money looks like robbing Peter to pay Paul and becomes grounds for finding habitual fraud. Deleting your account or receiving money into an account in someone else's name also suggests you were trying to hide something.

If you make a new promise to a buyer to send the item by a certain date and miss that date again, the promise looks like another lie. Only give dates you can keep.

Buyers file complaints where they each live, so at first you will be contacted by several police stations. If you repeatedly fail to respond to summonses, an arrest warrant (체포영장) may be requested, which can lead to a wanted notice, so do not ignore them because they are far away. Tell the investigator about the other cases and ask to be questioned in one place.

Once the cases are combined, buyers who have not yet filed complaints are sometimes identified. If you have made your own list of victims, it is easy to check against the investigation record, and you can base your repayment plan on the full scale.

The test is whether, when you posted the listing, you actually had the item and intended to send it. If the item you had was damaged or something suddenly came up so that you could not send it, there is room to see it as a civil matter of failing to keep a contract. The date the photos of the item were taken, the purchase receipt and courier booking records support this.

Following the amendment of December 23, 2025, fraud (사기) is punishable by imprisonment of up to 20 years or a fine of up to 50 million won; for transactions before the amendment, the statutory penalty at the time applies. If it is found to be habitual, the sentence is increased by up to half (Criminal Act (형법) Articles 347 and 351).

Fraud is an offense where the investigation continues even if the victim does not want punishment, but compensating victims weighs heavily in the outcome. If there are several victims, settling with only some has limited effect, so make a plan aimed at repaying everyone, starting with the smaller amounts if necessary. For buyers you cannot reach, consider a criminal deposit (형사공탁).

A managing partner uses the transaction records to separate what may be seen as fraud from what is a trading dispute, and looks with you at how to bring together cases from several police stations. We practise likely questions before questioning, attend the questioning with you, and submit a defense counsel's written opinion setting out your progress in repaying buyers. If you have been summoned by several police stations, contact us first through the chat on this page.