By Lee Kyung-min
Police are investigating the head of a photo studio specializing in baby photos, who fled to Indonesia after receiving money from parents to take pictures of their babies and make photo albums of them.
According to Ilsan Police Station in Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday, the studio owner, surnamed Shin, 36, offered discounts for her services on the condition that parents pay in advance in cash.
At least 230 couples paid up to 800,000 won ($717) per contract, with the total amounting to 184 million won.
The investigation comes after more than 40 couples filed complaints with police earlier this month, saying that Shin went out of contact and disappeared.
“Most of the parents didn’t receive any of the photos taken by Shin, and they don’t know where the photos are,” a police officer said. “Whether the victims can get them back is also unknown.”
Police confirmed that Shin left for Indonesia last Friday.
It is common in Korea for couples to pose for pictures when the wives are fully pregnant, and then get photos of the babies to mark special occasions such as their 50th day, 100th day and first birthday.
What is most upsetting, the couples say, is not the financial damage but the fact that the photos of their once-in-a-lifetime moments are gone.
“I have no way to remember how my baby looked right after he was born, when he was 50 days old, or how he looked when he was one year old. We hired a professional photographer to take pictures of our most precious memories in the best way possible. Now, that is gone. This is the worst kind of fraud,” a woman said in an online community for the victims.