Woman Loses ₩35 Million After Believing She Was Dating Lee Dong Wook for Nearly a Year
A woman lost ₩35 million after believing she was dating Lee Dong Wook for nearly a year, prompting his agency to warn fans about celebrity romance scams.
A woman in her 30s reportedly lost tens of millions of won after spending nearly a year believing she was in a romantic relationship with actor Lee Dong Wook, bringing renewed attention to the growing problem of celebrity impersonation and romance scams.
As online communication makes it easier than ever for strangers to connect, scammers have also developed increasingly sophisticated ways of approaching potential victims. Romance scams have become one such tactic, with perpetrators assuming false identities, building emotional relationships with victims, and eventually persuading them to send money.
Lee Dong Wook recently became the latest celebrity whose identity was allegedly exploited in such a scheme.
According to a report by SBS, a woman in her 30s said she believed she had been dating the famous actor for more than a year. To support her story, she showed conversations with the person she thought was Lee Dong Wook, including messages that portrayed their relationship as increasingly serious.
Some of the photos sent to the woman also appeared to have been generated or manipulated using artificial intelligence, demonstrating how emerging technology can make celebrity impersonation scams appear more convincing.
The woman said she ultimately transferred approximately ₩35 million (around $25,400) to the impersonator. She claimed the financial losses became so significant that she even withdrew money from a savings account and used funds originally intended for her everyday living expenses.
According to the victim, the person impersonating Lee Dong Wook gradually convinced her that they were in a genuine relationship. She said they discussed visiting her parents together and even talked about arranging a formal meeting between their families. The two also reportedly used affectionate terms such as “honey,” “oppa,” and “jagiya” while communicating for nearly a year. Believing the relationship was real, she estimated that she spent between ₩30 million and ₩40 million before calculating that she had transferred approximately ₩35 million in total.
Rather than focusing solely on the individual case, the SBS report highlighted the broader danger of romance scams, explaining common tactics used by scammers and warning viewers about ways to recognize suspicious behavior before suffering financial losses.
Following the report, Lee Dong Wook’s agency, King Kong by Starship, issued a warning on September 16 regarding people impersonating its artists.
The agency emphasized that its artists will never privately contact individuals through social media or messaging applications to request money, payments, personal information, or other valuables.
King Kong by Starship also urged anyone who encounters an account or individual suspected of impersonating one of its artists to report the case directly to the agency.
The incident serves as another example of how celebrity identities can be exploited in increasingly elaborate online scams, particularly as AI-generated images and other digital tools make impersonation more difficult for unsuspecting victims to recognize.
Sources: Koreaboo