Home > National > Social Affairs

Korean fraudster accused of swindling $12 million extradited from Philippines

Published: 08 Jul. 2025, 19:17

Apartment buildings in Suwon, Gyeonggi, are pictured on Jan. 10, 2024, in this photo unrelated to the story. [NEWS1]

A Korean woman who fled overseas after allegedly orchestrating a massive rental fraud scheme worth 16.4 billion won ($12 million) was recently extradited from the Philippines to face charges at home.

Police in Suwon, Gyeonggi, said Tuesday that they'd taken the suspect, a woman in her 30s, into custody after extraditing her from Manila earlier this month.

Authorities accuse the suspect of defrauding 83 tenants out of their jeonse deposits from September 2021 to April 2023.

Jeonse is a widely used housing system in Korea in which tenants pay large deposits instead of monthly rent, expecting the full amount back at the end of the contract.

The main suspect, along with an acquaintance in their 60s, bought land in Suwon’s Paldal and Gwonseon Districts, took out loans and constructed new buildings, according to the Suwon Nambu Police Precinct.

Investigators said the suspect then signed rental contracts with 83 tenants across 11 newly built properties but did not return their deposits when the contracts ended. Each tenant paid roughly 200 million won ($146,000) on average.

The scheme unraveled in December 2023 after tenants began filing complaints with police, saying they could not retrieve their deposits.

Police launched a dedicated investigation team, suspecting the property owner and her partner signed rental agreements fully aware they could not repay the deposits and intentionally deceived the tenants.

Just before the first complaints reached police, the suspect left Korea. Her suspected acquaintance also fled around the same time but returned to Korea last June and was promptly arrested. Police later charged the partner with fraud.

Investigators tracked the main suspect to the Philippines in February this year. Authorities issued an Interpol red notice, leading local officials to arrest her in Manila. Korean police brought her back home earlier this month and remanded her in custody on Sunday.

Police are conducting additional questioning into the fraud allegations and investigating whether others helped the suspect evade capture.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY CHOI MO-RAN [[email protected]]