By Lee Kyung-min
Police have arrested a woman who allegedly swindled 26 Koreans in Mexico out of 1.3 billion won while organizing a private fundraising group.
Officials at the Seoul Metropolitan Agency said Monday they detained the woman, surnamed Choi, 55, upon her arrival at Incheon International Airport on suspicion of fraud and embezzlement.
Choi, who immigrated to Mexico in 2005 with her family, runs a Korean restaurant in Mexico City. Faced with growing debts following her husband's business failure that left them owing money to loan sharks, she allegedly organized five "gye." Gye is a traditional private fund where members contribute a certain amount of money and then take turns to receive a lump sum.
Since June last year, she collected a monthly payment of 5 million won per person from 26 people.
"Those people participated in the gye and paid the money without suspicion because Choi had significant influence in the Korean community as her restaurant is popular among tourists and Korean residents there," a police officer said.
With the money she collected through the gye, she used 80 million won to pay back debts.
She fled to Korea with the remaining money on July 23, but was apprehended by police officers who were waiting at the airport following a tipoff from the victims.
"With the list of gye members, we are examining whether there are any more victims," the officer said.
Police have arrested a woman who allegedly swindled 26 Koreans in Mexico out of 1.3 billion won while organizing a private fundraising group.
Officials at the Seoul Metropolitan Agency said Monday they detained the woman, surnamed Choi, 55, upon her arrival at Incheon International Airport on suspicion of fraud and embezzlement.
Choi, who immigrated to Mexico in 2005 with her family, runs a Korean restaurant in Mexico City. Faced with growing debts following her husband's business failure that left them owing money to loan sharks, she allegedly organized five "gye." Gye is a traditional private fund where members contribute a certain amount of money and then take turns to receive a lump sum.
Since June last year, she collected a monthly payment of 5 million won per person from 26 people.
"Those people participated in the gye and paid the money without suspicion because Choi had significant influence in the Korean community as her restaurant is popular among tourists and Korean residents there," a police officer said.
With the money she collected through the gye, she used 80 million won to pay back debts.
She fled to Korea with the remaining money on July 23, but was apprehended by police officers who were waiting at the airport following a tipoff from the victims.
"With the list of gye members, we are examining whether there are any more victims," the officer said.
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