4 Koreans In Their Twenties Created A Fake K-Pop Concert, Scammed People For $20,000

A couple of office workers and college students have scammed numerous people with fake K-Pop concert tickets and are facing charges after being arrested.

The four Koreans are all in the 20s and were booked by the tourism police at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. While there, they were charged with selling tickets for false advertisement.

These fraudsters were promoting a healing talk concert featuring K-Pop idols like RAINZ. They never signed with any of their “guest” idols nor did they book the event at any performance halls. They had even set up fake online social networking services to promote the events.

Even more concerning is how long they were able to keep the charade going! They began promoting in August of last year and even continued to promote when they were being investigated by the police.

To top it off, the four members actually made a lot of money from their scam. They each received amounts ranging from 50,000 Won to 100,000 Won (~$47-94 USD) in their personal accounts. Altogether, they received a total of 22.05 million Won (~$20,000 USD).

Koreans were not the only victims of this fraud. Foreigners from Japan and Taiwan were hit pretty hard. They also got the short end of the stick because the fraudsters told them that they would subsidize airfare if they encouraged more people to come. The police believe there will be even more instances of fraud like this in the future as K-Pop continues to become more and more popular.

According to Korean law, these troublemakers could face 3 or more years in prison and they may be fined up to the profit they gained.

Finally, the police are handing out advice on spotting a fake concert. They warned that you should immediately suspect fraud if the money transfer account is a private account. Another good thing to do is check the venue’s website, as they will generally advertise all upcoming performances.