Background
Our client, a social worker, met the counterparty through an online game. The counterparty often said he was about to inherit roughly KRW 30 billion.
In November 2022 he asked to borrow money briefly, saying his father had died and he needed funds for inheritance tax. He repeatedly promised that a little more money would resolve the inheritance and that he would then repay everything. Over 150 transfers through January 2026, our client sent a total of KRW 1,177,612,612, and received promissory notes in September 2025 and January 2026.
The counterparty returned only KRW 27,480,000 and then disappeared.
What Was at Stake
Our client first applied for a payment order (jigeup myeongryeong, a summary procedure for money claims), but the counterparty could not be located, so the case became a full lawsuit. Treated purely as a loan, it was a repayment claim; if the money had been obtained by deception from the start, it was damages for fraud.
How Changchun Helped
Law Firm Changchun restructured the claim once the case moved to litigation, and the court granted it in full.
Two layers of claims. The primary claim sought damages for fraud, with loan repayment as an alternative claim.
Tracing every transfer. All 150 transfers were set out in a schedule identifying the total sent.
An exact figure. KRW 1,177,612,612 sent, minus the KRW 27,480,000 repaid, gave a claim of KRW 1,150,132,612.
Looking ahead to recovery. Changchun also applied for an order to disclose the counterparty's account records.
Outcome
In July 2026 a three-judge panel of the first-instance court, proceeding by service by publication, ordered the counterparty to pay KRW 1,150,132,612 with 12% annual interest from June 6, 2026, to bear the litigation costs, and declared the judgment provisionally enforceable.
Even when money is sent in many small transfers, organizing each transfer and statement can secure a judgment for a large sum. (Outcomes depend on the facts of each case.)