"It'll be a hit if it's listed".Actor Dongwon buys 1.5 billion won with fake 'investment success story'

[Anchor]
Police have arrested a group of investment scammers accused of taking 1.5 billion won by deceiving them that they could make a big hit if certain stocks are listed.

Even professional actors were used to film fake success stories and post them on social media to attract victims.

Reporter Lim Ye-jin reports.

[Reporter]
A man talks about a plausible success story, saying he overcame a disadvantaged childhood by investing in stocks.

"Money brings happiness. It brought happiness to the whole family."

Now, there are also women who can feed their children their favorite strawberries to their heart's content.

"The child wants to pick up a strawberry, but he can't talk about buying it. Strawberries are 8,000 won and bananas are 2,000 won. I really don't want to live."

This is a promotional video posted on social media by A, a group of investment scammers, and others, after using professional actors.

It attracted victims to invest in some of the unlisted stocks whose public offering schedule is known, and even created a fake stock trading site.

In just six months since May, more than 80 people have intercepted 1.5 billion won.

As a result of the investigation, A and others committed crimes meticulously by dividing their roles into management measures, incentives, and employees of securities companies working for investment advisory companies.

[Shim Moo-song / Head of Phishing Crime Investigation Division, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency: Please note that if you join an unreliable site as a member or leave personal information on an SNS advertisement video with an unknown source, you may be the target of a criminal organization, not to mention profit.]

The police also applied the crime of organizing a criminal group with a heavy sentence and handed over nine people to the prosecution, including arresting Mr. A, who is in charge of the crime.

I'm YTN's Lim Yejin.