"Jeonse" real estate scam victim Ahn Sang-mi reacts during a rally near the National Assembly in Seoul on May 8, 2024.
Park told AFP he often worked from 9am to midnight in menial delivery-related jobs to save up US$73,000. But after he had paid a deposit and moved in, his purported landlord – who it turns out had never had the authority to lease the property – vanished and Park was evicted, with no way to get his money back.
Official data indicates at least 17,000 people like Park – around 70 per cent of victims are in their 20s and 30s – have been hit by jeonse fraud in recent years. "Telling young people to spend the next 20 years repaying money lost to fraud is akin to telling them to stop living," Ahn Sang-mi, a victim, said at a recent rally in Seoul.