Secondhand-Market Fraud Report 2

1. Two methods of filing are known.

1) Filing a petition with the police: relatively simple. If you go to a police station (not a substation) and say you've come to report a secondhand-market fraud transaction, they guide you to the station's cyber-crime investigation team. You go and file a petition. But I didn't choose this method. As I learned through searching, the ways the police conclude are 'internal-investigation closure' and 'indictment.' If it's closed by internal investigation, that person isn't punished. And by the principle of double jeopardy, the case can't be investigated again. But since I want to recover the damage amount, I don't want an internal-investigation closure. On the other hand, in the case of indictment, if it goes to a summary judgment via 'summary indictment,' it's likewise hard to get the damage amount back. If you suffered about 1.5 million won in losses, the suspect might end with paying only about 150,000 won in fines. So I didn't want that either. So I prepared to file a complaint with the prosecution.

2) Filing a complaint with the prosecution: the methods of filing a complaint with the prosecution are delegating it through a judicial scrivener who acts on your behalf, or 'direct filing' where I file myself. Of these, I decided to try direct filing. And since it had come to this, I wanted to do it myself. At this point I'm reminded of a certain lawmaker's 'gaffe.'

If you file directly, the prosecution has a duty to investigate, so I figured they at least wouldn't do an internal-investigation closure. Moreover, this case has 10 or more victims including me. So the possibility of a formal trial (rather than a summary one) is very high. So I resolved to go to the prosecutors' office. What you need for direct filing is the complaint and evidence. The complaint can be written at the civil-affairs room of a nearby prosecutors' office. The evidence? I have to print it out and bring it. So I printed the evidence as below.

I had three pieces of evidence. One was the bank deposit record, another the text records, and the 'forged invoice' the scammer sent. I printed these three. I decided to attach these as evidence. I wish I'd captured the posting too, but I hadn't. And in this scammer's case, traces of having hacked numerous Naver IDs were found. I learned this while creating the victims' group chat — the IDs the scammer used were different.

2. Next, I think I should write about going to file in person. I'll write a post each time I file, submit the complaint, and a result comes out, and wait. Roughly, after submitting the complaint I'll check about once every two weeks. Since there's already a victims' group chat, others will share too.

What I roughly know about the process is this. First, if you file through the prosecution, the case is transferred to the prosecutors' branch office at the location where the account was opened, and the investigation begins from that point; since the fraud amount and number of cases are large now, I'm thinking a summary process won't happen. However, in the case of a fraud by someone residing overseas, there will be the trouble of having to register the debt-default once every 10 years, but even so I plan to suggest we all do it together.

And since 9 or more people including me have all resolved to file complaints with the prosecution, the 9 cases will be consolidated at the prosecutors' branch office in the account-opening region.