Kim Sang-hyeok “I lost 20 million won by being fooled by fake love”… How to avoid being a romance scam?

Singer Kim Sang-hyuk, who caused a social stir with his drunk driving accident in April 2005, recently shared his current status and revealed that he was once scammed out of 20 million won in a romance scam.

On the 18th, a video titled “You want me to drive for you? | ‘Kim Sang-hyuk’s Drive for You’ was released on the YouTube channel ‘Studio Dangke.’ In the video, Kim Sang-hyuk confessed, “I tried to (date). I even had a fling. He approached me first. But I was a victim of a romance scam and lost 20 million won. I exchanged numbers with this person, but he wouldn’t meet me.”

Then, he confessed, “As we talked about this and that, I felt more confident and decided to start dating. Two and a half months passed like that. I even sent her pictures, but they were all stolen.”

Romance scam, the goal is money… Damage amount increased by 7 times compared to 4 years ago in 2023

The romance scam that Kim Sang-hyeok suffered could also be called an online dating scam. Romantic scams, where people fall for fake love without knowing it, are on the rise. In fact, according to the National Intelligence Service (NIS), the number of romance scam reports received by the NIS 111 Center in 2023 was 126, the highest number ever. This is nearly a four-fold increase from 38 cases in 2019 in four years. The damage from romance scams in 2023 was 5.512 billion won, increasing every year from 830 million won in 2019 to 370 million won in 2020, 3.13 billion won in 2021, and 3.96 billion won in 2022. In 2023, it has increased by about seven times compared to four years ago.

Their goal is ultimately money. The scammer lures people into a fake romantic relationship to gain financial gain. The scammer uses a fake online identity to lure the victim, and if the victim shows interest, they go through a process of building trust. After that, they ask for money or steal personal information to steal money or identity. In Korea, 70% of romance scam victims are women, and 87% are under the age of 30.

According to a paper published in ‘Korean Criminology’ by Park Mi-rang, a professor of police science at Hannam University, analyzing 73 cases of first-trial guilty verdicts for romance scam crimes from 2017 to 2021, the most frequently used romance scam scenario in Korea was the tactic of ‘I want to send you money and gifts, so please pay for the expenses.’ This accounted for 56.6% of the total. 18.9% of cases involved asking for money by complaining about their own or their family’s difficult circumstances, and 15.1% involved asking for money to be paid for the cost of storing luggage.

The romance scams analyzed in this paper were 100% carried out through social networking services, especially KakaoTalk and Instagram (18.1% each), Facebook (13.8%), and WhatsApp (8.5%). These days, there are also many cases where people approach through online dating apps.

It makes me rely on it psychologically… It’s progressing too quickly without even meeting, so I’m suspicious

No matter how you found out about someone online, it’s a good idea to keep an eye out for signs. Common signs of a romance scam include fake social media profiles, demands for quick action, requests for money, and reluctance to meet up or video chat.

In Kim Sang-hyeok’s case, he said that after sharing many stories with each other, they became close friends and even developed into ‘lovers’. Like Kim Sang-hyeok, there are many cases where scammers use psychological strategies to target the emotional weaknesses of their victims.

If we look at their strategy process, they first build trust. After forming an emotionally intimate relationship, they create an urgent situation to make the victim make a quick decision.

Another characteristic is that they lead victims to have hopes for love or relationships in order to avoid suspicion. They gain the victim’s sympathy with a plausible personal ‘story’. They also tend to make it difficult to discuss with others. They psychologically manipulate victims by telling them signs that something might go wrong if they tell others.

If a relationship progresses quickly without you actually meeting someone, you may suspect a romantic scam. The scammer is trying to exploit the victim by quickly forming an emotional connection. Usually, after a few conversations, they confess their love and promise marriage or cohabitation.

Another tactic is “love bombing,” which involves showering the victim with compliments and attention. For example, “You are the best person I’ve ever met,” “It’s fate that I met you,” etc., to get the victim to fall in love. Always be wary of sweet, affectionate words being poured out to someone you’ve never met.

As a result, scammers create powerful psychological traps for their victims. They use various techniques to make you feel ‘hypnotized’, which can cloud your rational judgment about what kind of relationship you are in. Understanding the methods of romance scams is important in recognizing and resisting the manipulation of scammers.

Romance scams are designed to exploit basic human psychology, so if you don’t have awareness and vigilance, it’s hard to detect and resist. Be careful of emotional bonds that come too easily, and if there’s a financial request, you should be suspicious, distance yourself, and cut off the relationship.