You may need a consultation if
- You took payment on a secondhand trading app, couldn't send the items, and several people filed complaints
- You agreed to sell concert tickets, something came up, and your refund was delayed
- You worked as a consultant under an investment chat room operator and are being questioned as an accomplice to fraud
- You borrowed money from someone you met on social media and were reported for a romance scam
- The person who encouraged you to invest has cut off contact, and you want to file a complaint
Relevant Laws
Criminal Act (형법) Article 347 (Fraud)
A person who deceives another and obtains property or a financial benefit is punished by up to 20 years' imprisonment or a fine of up to KRW 50 million. For acts before the amendment of December 23, 2025, the statutory penalty in force at the time of the act applies.
Criminal Act Article 351 (Habitual Offenders)
Habitual fraud is punished by the penalty for that crime increased by up to one half.
Telecommunications Fraud Refund Act (통신사기피해환급법) Article 2, item 2
Acts disguised as selling goods or providing services are excluded from telecommunications financial fraud under this Act. So for losses from secondhand sale fraud, it is hard to use the account freeze and refund procedures under this Act that apply to voice phishing.
Statutes are summarized. The official Korean text is available at the Korea Law Information Center (law.go.kr).
Secondhand sale fraud looks at when the listing was posted
The key questions are whether you actually had the item, whether you sold the same item to several people, and what you did after receiving the money to ship it or refund the buyer. If you couldn't send it because a parcel was lost or something suddenly came up, there is room to treat it as a civil matter of failing to keep the contract.
On the other hand, if you kept posting new listings to raise money to refund earlier buyers, robbing Peter to pay Paul, it is easy to conclude you never intended to ship, and the penalty may be increased for habitual fraud.
Bringing cases from several police stations into one place
Buyers file complaints where they each live, so at first you get separate calls from several police stations. If you keep failing to appear, an arrest warrant may be requested, so the first step is to ask the investigators in charge to combine the cases in one place.
Make your own list of victims using the trading app chats and deposit records. You need to know the full scale, including buyers who haven't filed complaints yet, to make a repayment plan.
If you were involved in an investment chat room or romance scam
Chat room consultants, people who lent their accounts and people who converted received money into crypto and sent it on are also investigated as accomplices. The issues are whether you thought it was legitimate investment consulting, whether you were given scripts promising assured returns, and when you quit. When investigated as an organization, joining a criminal group may also be considered, so narrowing down the period you worked and the role you played directly affects the sentence.
If you are a victim, look at criminal and civil steps together
Filing a complaint alone does not bring your money back. If you know the other person's account, also consider a provisional attachment (가압류). Fraud disguised as selling goods, such as secondhand sale fraud, is not covered by the voice phishing account freeze system, so it has to be approached through the investigation and civil proceedings.
Factors That Affect the Outcome and Sentence
Factors that work against you
- · Kept posting listings to pay off earlier buyers
- · Many victims
- · Used fake-name accounts or other people's bank accounts
- · Did not respond to requests to appear
- · A large role within the organization
Factors that work in your favor
- · Records showing you actually had the item when you listed it
- · Records of efforts to ship or refund
- · Repayment and settlement with all victims
- · A short period of involvement and little gain
- · No criminal record
How Jisan Law's Criminal Law Center Responds
- 1
Consultation with the managing partner
We look at the listings, chats and deposit records and separate what may be seen as fraud from what is a trading dispute.
- 2
Victim list and combining cases
We make a table of amounts and refund status for each transaction, and consider how to bring cases from several police stations into one place.
- 3
Mock questioning and sitting in
We prepare for questions about your circumstances when you sold and why you couldn't ship, and go into the questioning with you.
- 4
Repayment plan and written opinion
We set a repayment plan you can actually keep and submit a written opinion summarizing your progress.
Lawyers handling these cases
Hansol Kim Managing Partner
Former prosecutor at the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office, the Ansan Branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office and the Hongseong Branch of the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office
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Bonwoo Koo Managing Partner
Economic criminal cases such as Capital Markets Act violations, investment fraud, embezzlement and breach of trust
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Frequently asked questions
Each case is only tens of thousands of won. Can I still be detained?
Even if each amount is small, arrest or detention may be considered if there are many victims or you are seen as a flight risk for not appearing. It is important to bring the cases together, appear faithfully and show that you are actually repaying.
I only sent the item late. Is that fraud?
If you eventually shipped it or gave a refund, that suggests you did not intend to deceive from the start. Show with your chat records whether you had the item when you sold it and whether you explained the delay to the buyer.
I only received a salary as a consultant in an investment chat room.
Even if you only received a salary, if your consulting was used to deceive investors, you will be investigated as an accomplice. You can dispute the scope of your involvement by organizing whether you had materials that made the company seem legitimate, what the scripts said, and when you quit after becoming suspicious.