A South Korean woman in her 30s who worked as an extra believed she had been dating actor Lee Dong-wook for eight months. By the time the exchanges ended, she had sent 35 million won, or about NT$800,000, after the person she was talking to said a gift package had been stopped at customs. SBS current affairs program News Hunters aired her story, and a lawyer on the program said the case fit the pattern of a romance scam.
According to Munhwa Ilbo, the woman had long been a fan of Lee and worked as an extra on production sets. She said she first came across an account claiming to be Lee Dong-wook on social media earlier this year, then moved the conversation to KakaoTalk. They never met in person and never spoke by phone. She told SBS that she had only ever seen the real Lee Dong-wook from a distance.
Eight months of messages and a promise of marriage
The person behind the account sent selfies, complimented her looks, and offered advice about her work as an extra, the report said. She also said he talked about visiting with his parents for a formal meeting between the two families.
The victim said on the program: 「(Lee Dong-wook said) Love you, wife. I called him oppa, and he called me darling. We had conversations like that for nearly a year. It felt like he already saw me as someone he would marry.」
A lawyer who appeared on the show said: 「She seemed to have no suspicion at all that this was a scam. Approaching someone through social media while pretending to be a romantic partner, then asking for money, is a typical romance scam.」 The program said the woman still believed the person was Lee Dong-wook.
Claim of a 700 million won gift held at customs
The scammer said he had sent her a package from overseas while filming abroad. Inside, he claimed, were gifts worth 700 million won. The package, he said, had been held by customs, and she needed to pay document fees to clear it. The report said 700 million won is about NT$16.08 million.
Each request for so-called customs fees ran into the millions of won, and the same demand kept coming back. In the end, the total reached 35 million won. The name on the receiving account changed each time. When she questioned that, the impersonator told her: 「I’m a celebrity, so this can’t become a big issue. Don’t send it to the agency’s account. Send it to the account I designate.」
The victim said: 「I spent 35 million won. I even canceled my time deposit and put in my living expenses too.」
Agency says artists do not ask for money in private
Lee Dong-wook’s agency, King Kong by Starship, later posted a notice on its official Instagram account saying it had recently received repeated reports of people impersonating its artists through private messaging apps and social media accounts.
The notice said: 「Our artists do not request valuables, money, or personal information through private messaging apps or social media accounts, nor do they privately contact people and ask for money under the pretext of holding VIP fan meetings.」
The agency also urged people not to respond at all if they receive messages from suspected impersonation accounts, adding that similar victim cases had surfaced elsewhere.
Romance scam losses in South Korea doubled in 2025
The report cited data from the Korean National Police Agency showing 2,192 romance scam cases in 2025, with total losses of 136 billion won. In 2024, from February to December, authorities recorded 1,265 cases and 67.5 billion won in losses. That means case volume was up by about 70%, while losses doubled.
Earlier case involved AI-generated images and a fake Lee Jung-jae
The report also pointed to a larger case from last year. JTBC reported in October that a woman in her 50s in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, received a TikTok message from someone claiming to be actor Lee Jung-jae. After talking about the filming of Squid Game season three, the conversation moved to KakaoTalk.
That impersonator sent what JTBC described as an AI-generated airport selfie and a fake ID card with the wrong birth date. A second person, claiming to be part of a management team, then collected 6 million won to arrange a meeting and another 10 million won for a VIP fan meeting card. King Kong by Starship’s latest warning also specifically mentioned scams that ask for money under the name of VIP fan meetings.
The requests did not stop there. The scammer later kept asking for money, saying Lee Jung-jae had been detained at an airport in the United States. Over six months, the victim lost 500 million won, or about NT$11.48 million.