Scammers use young fans' love to rip off millions of won
Fans waiting behind the photo line at Incheon International Airport to take photos of their favorite celebrities. Some who cannot make it to the scene hire photographers, but are sometimes scammed by those who take advantage of such ardor. / Yonhap
By Jung Hae-myoung
Diehard fans of singers and actors will do anything they can do if they can get a close look at their favorite celebrities, or even a good photo of them.
However, their ardor often becomes the target of fraud.
A 17-year-old girl was scammed by a fake photographer, surnamed Chang, who said he would take pictures of BTS at the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA), a K-pop award ceremony, in Hong Kong in 2017.
She paid more than 100,000 won ($89) for high quality close-up shots of the boy group.
“The scammer told me to wait because the connection is poor in Hong Kong,” she said. “But the photos never came.”
The only information she has about the scammer is the name and bank account number.
Usually there are photographers among the fandom who take pictures of celebrities at a concert or an awards ceremony for those who cannot make it to the event. Photos are dealt through social media, with prices range up to 100,000 won per 1,000 shots.
The scammers use this fan culture to rip people off for millions of won. They usually demand to get paid before sending the photos; then delay the time they will send the pictures while staying in contact and make excuses that they cannot send money when asked for a refund, and then disappear.
It is hard to track the scammers because they sell the photos through social network channels, while they use fake IDs or personal information on open chat rooms, KakaoTalk or Twitter.
Another victim lost money with the same method on Twitter.
“I paid a high price to get photos of my favorite boy band DAY6. I asked for the photos only for me but the photographer spread the photos all over the internet. I lost contact when I complained and asked for a refund,” a fan, 24, said.
Numerous stories about such scamming can be seen on online communities of idol fans. Some get poor quality photos after paying huge sums of money.
Photographer for hire is not the only business that takes advantage of fans. The K-pop black market is huge online, and some fans use it to get photos, concert tickets and custom designed goods that are hard to get. The ticket price often skyrockets up to a million won per seat.
Ticket prices for K-pop star concerts on an online black market can quadruple the original prices. / Captured from Ticketbay
The fans still buy the tickets despite the high prices because they are desperate to see their favorite stars.
Fans from abroad can also become easy targets as the language barrier prevents them from reporting to Korean police.
A Chinese fan of The Boyz, a K-pop boy band, contacted a dealer to buy the group's concert ticket for 150,000 won. The dealer promised to give him the ticket in front of the concert hall but never showed up and never replied.
The Chinese opened a website collecting victims, and many said they were victimized by the same dealer. The scammers took 100,000 won from multiple victims, up to 40 million won in total.
Punishing such scammers, however, is not easy. According to the minor offense law, a person who resells tickets for profit can be fined up to 600,000 won. But the law only applies to offline cases. The regulations on the online black markets are not specified even though many lawmakers have proposed bills for enforcement.
The police said they do not record the exact number of fan scams, even though total online scamming increased from 56,667 in 2014 to 92,636 in 2017.
Experts say such cases even involving a small sum of money can be punished as fraud, if repeated. Fraud is punishable with up to 10 years in prison or a 20 million won fine.
“If the person refuses to give money back without a specific reason, he or she can be charged with fraud even for a small sum of money,” Moon Jung-gu, a lawyer at Han-gil law firm said.