It is a surprising extortion case both by the sheer success of the ruse and the advanced age of one of its plotters.

A 62-year old man, part of a trio of con artists, was sentenced by the district court in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province for his role in a 40-million won extortion scam.  The team of three, posing as intelligence agents, threatened randomly selected public officials with knowledge about their secret affairs.

Although these men had no solid information about their victims (beyond their phone number), a surprising 14 of those they contacted gave into their demands.  The convicted senior citizen will be remanded for an 18-month prison sentence, while the second suspect was given a suspended sentence (perhaps for immunity?) 

The third suspect, who allegedly masterminded the plot and has a previous conviction for doing these crimes, is still on the run.  Beware if someone calls randomly in the night saying he knows what you did last summer.

Ah, the entertainment value of bumbling criminals reminiscent of a Coen brothers film.   ex.–Burn After Reading.  Here’s a clip: 

more reading: [Korea Herald]

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