``I'll make you a BTS staff member''... 40-year-old man sentenced to prison for stealing 700 million won from fans = South Korea

A man in his 40s who deceived fans into believing he was an employee of an outsourcing company for BTS's management office and stole approximately 700 million won (approximately 78.96 million yen) has been sentenced to prison.
According to the Korean Bar Association on the 27th, on the 22nd of this month, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced defendant A (40), who was charged with fraud under the law related to aggravated punishment for specified economic crimes, to 4 years in prison.
He was sentenced to a year in prison. In July 2021, Defendant A announced in a certain online space, ``I'll let you participate as a BTS staff member,'' and spoke to BTS fans 153 times for a total of 703,800.
He is accused of stealing 90,000 won (approximately 73.85 million yen). According to the investigative agency, defendant A posted on an online transaction site that he was ``looking for people to buy BTS affiliate tickets.''
The victim, Mr. B, was lured by the victim by posting a message with the same content. Defendant A stated, ``I work as a team leader for an outsourcing company that produces videos under contract with HYBE (BTS management office), and I work with the staff.
After deceiving Mr. B by telling him, ``If you want to participate, you have to pay the airfare,'' it was revealed that he continued to commit the crime until January 22, 2022.
As a result of the investigation, defendant A is not a team leader at a video production company, has no special income or assets, and has debts.
It was in a state of Defendant A, who went to trial, admitted his charges. The trial chamber stated, ``The defendant repaid 131 million won (approximately 14.77 million yen), part of the money he defrauded, to the victim.
However, the court found that the culpability of defrauding a huge amount of money by exploiting his admiration for famous celebrities is heavy. In addition, ``The defendant has been sentenced to prison several times for similar fraud in the past.''
Despite having a history of fraud, he committed fraud using the same method during the period of repeated offenses, and there is a high possibility that he will be prosecuted."
He explained the reason for the sentence, saying, "I have not been able to resolve (the loan issue) and am suffering mentally."