ONLINE INVESTMENT SCAMS

[Anchor Lead]

Online investment scams claiming to give high profits are rampant. A firm has disappeared after collecting funds on the claim that investors can make more than a 10% profit in three days on an online virtual product. Several thousand people have supposedly lost tens of billions of won.

[Pkg]

Mr. A got into online investment in early January. His acquaintance claimed he could gain more than 10% profit in just three days by investing in an internet virtual product.
Mr. A put in 60 million won. But now he stands to lose all his money as the company closed its web site and disappeared.

[Soundbite] Mr. A(Voice Modified) : "It happened on Jan. 30. Its website and chatting room were shut down."

Mr. B is in the same predicament. He sold his truck, the means of his livelihood, to invest more than 100 million won.

[Soundbite] Mr. B(Voice Modified) : "My truck business was struggling and I had difficulty paying the installment."

The fraudulent company convinced investors by saying that if they purchased virtual products through a website or an app, they could get high returns after reselling the products with premium to other investors. If investors stopped their payment, the company took all the principal.

[Soundbite] Mr. A(Voice Modified) : "If I missed even one payment, I would lose all the money I’ve invested before."

He went to the office address only to find that it had been vacant for more than six months. Financial authorities believe it was likely an internet investment scam.

[Soundbite] "Financial Supervisory Service Official: Most P2P lenders provide one-year credit loans and investors generally gain only an 8% average yearly profit. The company wasn’t a P2P lender. It was a Ponzi scheme."

Around 3,000 people are estimated to have lost more than 50 billion won. The victims have decided to sue the missing company officials.