Korean-American Mother and Daughter Arrested In Busan as Part of International Email Scam Operation

The people behind these scams are criminals that should be punished, but I am always amazed by how people keep falling for these email scams that are obviously fake:

A mother and her daughter from the United States, who are part of an international group that carries out various inheritance and investment-related email scams, were arrested for fraud by Busan police on Thursday.

The mother, 67, and her daughter, 46, took 97 million won ($87,080) from a 32-year-old Sakhalin Korean, a Russian of Korean descent from Sakhalin Island, surnamed Kim. The money was taken through a total of 16 occasions from March to August of this year in Haeundae District in Busan.

The scam started when Kim received an email in March from who appeared to be a U.S. bank employee. The email read, “One of your distant relatives had passed away and has left 12 billion won to you.” At first, Kim was skeptical but ended up believing the email because the relative’s name written on the email seemed familiar.

Kim replied to the email, “How can I receive the inheritance?”

Soon after, the supposed U.S. bank employee sent another email, recommending Kim a lawyer. When Kim contacted the lawyer from the email, she explained how to receive the money and asked for a commission. Each time the lawyer asked for her payment, Kim wired the fee to a certain bank account in the U.S. Kim received a receipt and an authentication certificate whenever he transferred the fee.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.