• The Seoul Eastern District Court on 15 September sentenced one Korean recruit to three years and another to four years for work in Cambodian scam syndicates.
  • The first recruit, known as "Su-yeong", posed as a romantic partner to three Korean victims in a scheme that netted roughly 1.9 billion won ($1.4 million).
  • Korean romance-scam losses reached 136 billion won in 2025, up from 14.4 billion won in 2023, per National Police Agency data.

The Seoul Eastern District Court on 15 September sentenced two South Koreans who joined Chinese-run scam syndicates in Cambodia as romance "chatters", one to three years and the other to four years in prison, Korea JoongAng Daily reported on 2 November, citing legal sources. DII has not seen the judgments, and the paper did not say whether the verdicts are final or under appeal.

The dating link is indirect: no app or platform is named. But the method, a fake romantic partner steering victims towards fake investments, is one familiar to trust and safety teams at dating platforms.

The DII Take

These sentences put the lowest rung of a scam operation in prison, which is where the supply of fake profiles begins. Both recruits answered job offers, one by Telegram message, and the court still held them criminally liable. Platforms should read that as a sign that enforcement is reaching the people behind the chat window, not only the organisers.

Chatters worked seven days a week under guard

According to the paper, "Su-yeong" was recruited in December 2024 with an offer of an overseas office job, flew to Thailand on 1 January 2025 and worked for the syndicate in Cambodia until 11 April 2025. They claimed to have made a fortune investing in SpaceX and said similar investments could return about 6 percent daily. The sentence of three years was for joining and participating in a criminal organisation.

The second recruit went to Cambodia in February 2025 after a person using the alias "Henry" offered a job paying more than $2,000 a month. They spent about three months posing as a romantic prospect and earned $5,000. The paper said Henry was later arrested and indicted on 30 June. That recruit's charges included fraud and breaches of the Special Act on the Prevention of Telecommunications-Based Financial Fraud and Refund of Fraudulently Obtained Assets.

Court records cited by the paper say both joined voluntarily but were tightly controlled. In the second ring the leadership was entirely Chinese, guards supervised the Korean chatters and members had no Wi-Fi. The court said, as quoted by the paper: "Most victims are ordinary Koreans who face enormous difficulty recovering money lost to organized voice phishing schemes".

Losses keep climbing while abuse reports fall

Korean romance-scam losses rose from 14.4 billion won in 2023 to 54.6 billion won in 2024 and 136 billion won in 2025, according to National Police Agency data obtained by Democratic Party Rep. Park Jeong-hyeon's office.

Korean romance-scam losses rose from 14.4 billion won in 2023 to 54.6 billion won in 2024 and 136 billion won in 2025, according to National Police Agency data obtained by Democratic Party Rep. Park Jeong-hyeon's office.

Seoul Economic Daily reported on 21 October that kidnapping and confinement reports tied to Cambodian scam operations fell 95.1%, from 386 to 19, in the first year of Korea's transnational crime task force. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission said nearly 60% of people who lost money to a romance scam in 2025 said it began on social media.

Watch for whether prosecutors or defendants appeal, and whether more chatters are tried after January's repatriation of 73 suspects from Cambodia.

  • The Seoul Eastern District Court has sentenced recruits who staffed Cambodian romance scam rings, not only organisers, a sign that answering overseas "office job" offers can carry criminal liability.
  • Romance-scam losses in Korea reached 136 billion won in 2025, so the chatter model is still paying even as abuse reports fall.

Sources: Reported losses to scams on social media eight times higher than in 2020 (US Federal Trade Commission); Koreans who voluntarily joined Chinese-run scam syndicates in Cambodia sentenced to prison (Korea JoongAng Daily); 73 South Koreans repatriated from Cambodia to face investigations over online scams (AP via KSAT); Cambodia Scam Abuse Reports Drop 95% in First Year of Task Force (Seoul Economic Daily)