Popular Korean Real Estate Instructor Sent to Prosecutors in $125 Billion Won Ponzi Case

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A well-known real estate instructor in South Korea has been arrested and referred to prosecutors on suspicion of running a Ponzi scheme that took in about 12.5 billion won from 126 victims. Police in Bundang, a city in Gyeonggi Province near Seoul, say he used his fame as an investment expert to lure people in.

How the Alleged Scheme Worked

Bundang Police Station sent the suspect, a man in his 50s surnamed Ahn, to prosecutors in custody. He faces charges of fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and violations of the Act on the Regulation of Conducting Fund-Raising Business Without Permission, which targets unlicensed deposit-taking schemes.

Police say that from January 2019 to July this year, Ahn ran a private fund he set up himself. He promised investors both their principal and high returns through real estate auction investments, and collected roughly 125 billion won from 126 people.

Investigators concluded that the operation was a classic Ponzi scheme. Money from new investors was used to pay dividends and profits to earlier ones, a method often described as robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Police believe the total funds Ahn raised over seven years reached the 40 billion won range, and they found signs that tens of billions of won were diverted for personal use. Authorities applied for a pre-indictment asset freeze on about 82 billion won in assets identified as criminal proceeds, and the court approved it.

Ahn had built his reputation by running a real estate YouTube channel with more than 170,000 subscribers and appearing on a number of terrestrial and cable TV programs. During a period of rising asset prices, he earned public trust as a property investment expert, and police say he then used that trust to attract investors.

Authorities urged financial consumers to be especially careful, saying that unregistered private funds, or any pitch guaranteeing both principal and high returns, are likely to be illegal deposit-taking or financial fraud.

Why It Matters

The case shows how online fame and media exposure can be turned into a tool for financial fraud. Regulators stress that guaranteed principal plus high returns is a red flag, no matter how famous the person making the pitch.

Read the original article in Korean: K trendy NEWS

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