Impersonating experts using AI voice cloning to commit stock fraud worth hundreds of millions of won

Stock investment "leading room" scams, which use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to sophisticatedly clone the voices of famous economic experts, are on the rise. By using experts' names and promising high returns, these scams induce victims to take out loans, leading to a surge of damages among middle-aged and elderly individuals.

Sophisticated scam methods mimicking even voices with AI technology

Recently, a case of a leading room impersonating economic expert Oh Kun-young was identified. The victim, Lee Eun-kyung (pseudonym), was invited to a related chat room after encountering a YouTube channel featuring Oh Kun-young. In the chat room, an individual claiming to be "Oh Kun-young's secretary" appeared and proposed a high-profit project. Notably, all the individuals in the chat room who were discussing and verifying profits were fake, and Oh Kun-young's voice was also revealed to be a fake voice generated by AI.

Inducing loans with "secret project" bait, leading to household ruin

A case impersonating Yeom Seung-hwan, a director at LS Securities, was also uncovered. The victim, a 65-year-old full-time homemaker, received a proposal to participate in "Yeom Seung-hwan's Secret Project Operation." The scam organization reassured the victim by saying they were "riding along with a large force" and prevented external leaks by emphasizing security. The victim became so deeply immersed that she fell under the illusion of having spoken directly with the expert, eventually investing a total of 360 million won, including credit and card loans. However, when she expressed her intention to stop investing, her stock account vanished without a trace.

Secondary damage: Forcing additional deposits when requesting principal recovery

The scam organization increases the scale of damage by committing secondary offenses when victims attempt to get their money back. In Lee Eun-kyung's case, the company manipulated numbers to make it appear as though profits had been made, inducing her to increase her investment scale. When she later sensed something was wrong and requested the recovery of her principal, the company forced another investment, claiming, "Additional payments are required for withdrawal." In this process, Lee even used her husband's name to take out an additional 220 million won in loans, bringing the final total damage to 320.5 million won.

Expert warning: "Promising guaranteed returns is clearly illegal"

Director Yeom Seung-hwan, who suffered from impersonation, expressed his anger, saying, "If there were a project yielding 500% returns, I would do it myself; why would I tell others?" Legal experts issue strong warnings against offers that guarantee high returns. Lee Don-ho, a lawyer specializing in phishing scams, advised, "You must be suspicious of any place that definitively promises hundreds of percent in returns." Furthermore, ▲requests to install specific apps, ▲requests to submit photos of ID cards, and ▲inducing large investments within a short period are highly likely to be illegitimate investment firms.