By Kim Rahn
An American woman and her daughter have been caught for allegedly swindling a man out of 97 million won ($86,600) via emails claiming that he had inherited a huge fortune from a distant relative and they would help him receive the money.
The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency said Thursday that the prosecution arrested the two women, 67 and 46, whose names were withheld, on charges of fraud. The two were staying in Busan.
The women allegedly emailed the ethnic Korean-Russian man, Kim, 32, in March, stating that one of his relatives left him a fortune worth 12 billion won to him. When Kim contacted them, they allegedly asked him to pay fees for an attorney, notary and other necessary procedures and he gave them a combined 97 million won over 16 occasions.
“The women pretended to be staff of a U.S. bank,” a police officer said. “They showed Kim a fake notary certificate issued by a U.S. consulate and a fake certificate from an African bank.”
The two came to Korea on Aug. 7 and asked Kim for more money. But suspicious of their continued requests, Kim asked the U.S. consulate in Busan to review the notary certificate, which was found to be fake. He then reported it to police.
Police apprehended them at a luxury hotel in Haeundae at 10 a.m. on Aug. 10, about four hours before they were due to depart to the U.S.
“They confessed to being involved in another fraud scheme in which they sent emails to three Korean businesspeople promising to invest in their companies,” the officer said. “Saying they needed money to pay necessary fees, they allegedly swindled the businesspeople out of 500 million won.”
Police are searching for three accomplices of the women, whose nationalities have not yet been confirmed.