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High reported severity Criminal Charges

Ulsan court jails Korean couple who ran a Cambodia-based romance and investment fraud using deepfake videos of a fake investment expert

South Korean prosecutors indicted a married couple in February 2026 on charges that, from January 2024 to January 2025, they ran phone-fraud groups in Cambodia that targeted Koreans with romance-and-investment scams; according to the prosecutors, the husband used deepfake technology to make YouTube videos in which he posed as an investment expert, while the wife built relationships with victims in private chats, and 97 victims lost about 10.1 billion won. Both admitted the charges, and on 24 July 2026 the Ulsan District Court sentenced the husband to 15 years and the wife to 9 years in prison, noting that the victims described severe harm while the defendants had made no effort to compensate them. Prosecutors appealed; at the appeal hearing on 22 October 2026 they asked for 17 years for the husband, and a joint appeal judgment is pending.

AI system
Unidentified video tool
Occurred
Jan 2024 to Jan 2025
Reported
13 February 2026
Event location
Cambodia, South Korea
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Financial Loss
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Finance · Relationships · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources, 3 underlying accounts
6 claims: 6 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 97 people

AI system as recorded: Deepfake technology used to make YouTube videos of a fictitious investment expert played by one defendant, as described by prosecutors (tool not named)

What Happened

The charges. The Ministry of Justice announced on 13 February 2026 that prosecutors had indicted a South Korean married couple, returned to South Korea from Cambodia in January, on charges including organising and running a criminal group and violating the special act on telecommunications financial fraud. According to the prosecutors, from January 2024 the couple first worked for about nine months within an existing fraud group in the Borei area of Cambodia and from November 2024 organised a new group with call-centre staff and money managers. The prosecutors say the husband used deepfake technology to film YouTube videos in which he posed as an investment expert to draw investments from victims, while the wife befriended victims in private conversations before taking their money. The indictment counts 97 domestic victims and about 10.1 billion won taken.

The trial. Both defendants admitted the charges at the first hearing in April 2026. On 24 July 2026 the 12th Criminal Division of the Ulsan District Court sentenced the husband to 15 years and the wife to 9 years in prison, rejected the wife's argument that she acted under her husband's control, and said the victims described severe harm and asked for strict punishment while the defendants had made no effort to compensate them. Reports of the judgment describe the scheme as using a virtual person made with deepfake technology and put the victims at about 100. The victims' compensation-order applications were dismissed.

Appeal. The husband withdrew his appeal; prosecutors appealed on sentencing grounds and, at an appeal hearing on 22 October 2026, asked for 17 years for him. The appeal court will sentence both defendants after the wife's appeal hearing ends.

Reported harm

According to the prosecutors, 97 victims in South Korea lost about 10.1 billion won to romance-and-investment scams in which deepfake videos presented a fictitious investment expert; the court said the victims described severe harm and had received no compensation.

Outcome

Ongoing

Indicted in February 2026 on charges including organising and running a criminal group and violating the telecommunications financial fraud act. On 24 July 2026 the 12th Criminal Division of the Ulsan District Court sentenced the husband to 15 years in prison with forfeiture of about 140 million won and the wife to 9 years with forfeiture of about 68 million won; victims' applications for compensation orders were dismissed. The husband withdrew his appeal; prosecutors appealed on sentencing grounds and on 22 October 2026 asked the appeal bench in Ulsan for 17 years for the husband. Judgment on both appeals is pending.

What remains unknown

  • How many of the victims saw the deepfake videos and which deepfake tool was used
  • How the prosecutors established that the videos were deepfakes
  • The outcome of the prosecutors' appeal and of the wife's appeal
  • Whether any of the losses have been recovered

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. Prosecutors, who investigated and indicted the couple, say the husband used deepfake technology to film YouTube videos in which he posed as an investment expert in order to draw investments from victims (s1); the charges of using deepfakes in the romance-investment scheme were admitted by both defendants and led to conviction (s2), and reports of the judgment describe a virtual person made with deepfake technology fronting the scheme (s3). The deepfake videos are the medium through which victims received the fake expert's investment pitch. The technical basis for the deepfake finding is not disclosed, and how many victims saw the videos is not reported.

6 claims: 6 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported Prosecutors charged that from January 2024 to January 2025 the couple organised and ran phone-fraud groups in Cambodia that used romance-scam methods and deepfakes to draw Koreans into investments.

Causal attribution. The charges as stated in the indictment; s2 restates them in its sentencing report. One prosecutorial origin.

  • hani.co.kr(opens in new tab) supports · Korean
    두 사람은 2024년 1월부터 1년간 캄보디아 보레이 지역 등지에 보이스피싱을 목적으로 하는 범죄단체를 조직한 뒤 딥페이크 기술을 악용해 ‘로맨스 스캠’ 방식의 투자 리딩 사기 범행을 저지른 혐의를 받는다.
  • yna.co.kr(opens in new tab) supports · Korean
    이들 부부는 2024년 1월부터 지난해 1월까지 캄보디아 보레이 지역 등에서 전화금융사기(보이스피싱) 범죄 단체를 조직하고 '딥페이크'를 활용해 한국인을 대상으로 로맨스 스캠 방식으로 투자를 유도한 혐의로 구속 기소됐다.
Reported According to the prosecutors' investigation, the husband used deepfake technology to film YouTube videos in which he posed as an investment expert to draw investments from victims, while the wife befriended victims in private conversations before taking their money.

Causal attribution. The deepfake step is the prosecutors' finding as reported from the Ministry of Justice announcement; the technical basis is not disclosed. Single outlet.

  • hani.co.kr(opens in new tab) supports · Korean
    딥페이크 기술로 유튜브 영상을 촬영해 마치 투자전문가인 것처럼 행세하며 피해자들을 상대로 투자금을 유도했다.; 피해자를 상대로 사적인 대화를 하며 친분을 쌓은 뒤 투자금을 받아냈다.
Reported The prosecutors count 97 victims in South Korea and about 10.1 billion won taken; reports of the judgment put the victims at about 100.

Causal attribution. Counts from the indictment and the court reporting; the split between the two figures is recorded rather than resolved.

  • hani.co.kr(opens in new tab) supports · Korean
    이러한 범행으로 국내 피해자 97명으로부터 약 101억원을 가로챘다.
  • hani.co.kr(opens in new tab) supports · Korean
    딥페이크 기술로 만든 가상인물을 앞세워 한국인 100여명한테 약 101억원을 가로챈 혐의를 받고 있다.
Reported Both defendants admitted the charges at the first hearing in April 2026, and on 24 July 2026 the Ulsan District Court sentenced the husband to 15 years and the wife to 9 years in prison, with forfeiture orders; the victims' compensation-order applications were dismissed.

Causal attribution. Two reporters' accounts of the same judgment; one court origin, so reported.

  • yna.co.kr(opens in new tab) supports · Korean
    두 사람 모두 지난 4월 열린 첫 재판에서 혐의를 인정했으나; 울산지법 형사12부(박강민 부장판사)는 24일 범죄단체조직 등 혐의로 재판에 넘겨진 30대 남편 A씨에게 징역 15년과 추징금 1억4천여만원, 아내 B씨에게는 징역 9년과 추징금 6천800만원을 선고했다.
  • hani.co.kr(opens in new tab) supports · Korean
    피해자들이 신청한 배상명령은 각하됐다.
Reported The court said the victims described severe harm and asked for strict punishment while the defendants had made no effort to compensate them.

Causal attribution. The court's sentencing reasons as quoted by two outlets; one origin.

  • yna.co.kr(opens in new tab) supports · Korean
    피해자들이 극심한 피해를 호소하고 있고 엄벌을 탄원하고 있는 반면, 피고인들은 피해 회복을 위해 아무런 노력을 하지 않고 있다
  • hani.co.kr(opens in new tab) supports · Korean
    피해자들은 극심한 피해를 호소하며 엄벌을 탄원하고 있지만, 피해 회복을 위해 아무런 노력도 하지 않고 있다
Reported Prosecutors appealed on sentencing grounds, and at the appeal hearing on 22 October 2026 asked for 17 years for the husband, who had withdrawn his own appeal; judgment will follow the wife's appeal hearing.

Causal attribution. Single outlet's report of the appeal hearing.

  • iusm.co.kr(opens in new tab) supports · Korean
    공소청은 22일 부산고법 울산재판부 울산제1형사부(유정우 부장판사) 심리로 열린 A씨 항소심 공판에서 징역 17년을 선고해달라고 재판부에 요청했다.; 이후 A씨는 항소했다가 이를 취하했으며, 검사는 양형부당을 이유로 항소했다.; B씨에 대한 항소심 심리가 마무리되면 A씨와 함께 선고가 이뤄진다.

Sources

4 sources inspected, from 3 underlying accounts. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in Korean on 2026-10-31; translated by the research agent (an AI). The Hankyoreh, 13 February 2026, reporting the Ministry of Justice announcement of the indictment; HTTP 200. Applies to s1.

Read in Korean on 2026-10-31; translated by the research agent (an AI). Yonhap News (Ulsan), 24 July 2026, report of the first-instance judgment; HTTP 200. Applies to s2.

Read in Korean on 2026-10-31; translated by the research agent (an AI). The Hankyoreh (Yeongnam), 24 July 2026, report of the same judgment; HTTP 200. Same court origin as s2. Applies to s3.

Read in Korean on 2026-10-31; translated by the research agent (an AI). Ulsan Maeil, 23 October 2026, report of the 22 October appeal hearing; HTTP 200. Applies to s4.

Event countries: Cambodia, South Korea. Affected-person countries: South Korea. Court countries: South Korea.

Event: the prosecutors say the fraud groups operated from the Borei area of Cambodia (s1, s2) and targeted Koreans, with victims counted as domestic victims in South Korea (s1); affected people: the indictment counts them as domestic (국내) victims (s1). Court: Ulsan District Court and the appeal bench in Ulsan (s2, s4).

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-31: Published as a reported criminal case: prosecutors say the husband used deepfake technology to make videos of himself posing as an investment expert in a romance-and-investment fraud that took about 10.1 billion won from 97 victims, both defendants admitted the charges, and the Ulsan District Court imposed prison sentences; an appeal is pending.

People described

About 97 people in South Korea (prosecutors' count; the court reports say about 100) who were drawn into romance-and-investment scams and lost about 10.1 billion won in total. Individual victims are not described.

People reported harmed in this case

At least 97 people

0 AI participants · 97 other people harmed

The prosecutors' indictment, as reported by The Hankyoreh, counts 97 domestic victims ('국내 피해자 97명'); reports of the judgment say about 100 ('100여명'). 97 is recorded as a documented minimum because the reports give no breakdown of how many victims saw the deepfake videos and the sentencing reports round upward.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#deepfake-video#romance-scam#investment-fraud#cambodia-scam-centre#criminal-conviction#appeal-pending#south-korea

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Ulsan court jails Korean couple who ran a Cambodia-based romance and investment fraud using deepfake videos of a fake investment expert. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2024-ulsan-court-jails-couple-who-ran-cambodia-romance-investment-fraud-with-deepfake-investment-expert-videos

BibTeX

@misc{2024_ulsan_court_jails_couple_who_ran_cambodia_romance_investment_fraud_with_deepfake_investment_expert_videos,
  title = {Ulsan court jails Korean couple who ran a Cambodia-based romance and investment fraud using deepfake videos of a fake investment expert},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2024-ulsan-court-jails-couple-who-ran-cambodia-romance-investment-fraud-with-deepfake-investment-expert-videos}
}

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