South Korean "Honeypot gang" blackmail married men with false rape

In South Korea, Police in Chungcheong Province have discovered a criminal gang running a ‘honeypot’ operation, enticing married men to have sex with a member of the gang and then blackmailing them.

In each case, the women threatened to say that the men had raped them, in one case even going to the police and making an official accusation when the victim failed to pay. On May 20th, police arrested five individuals in connection with the case, saying that they were accused of extorting a total of ₩43 million ($38,700) from three separate men.

Some might say that the married men deserve such ordeal because it would have been a lot  easier to be faithful. 

On New Year’s Eve, Mr. Lim, age thirty-one, headed out for a drink with a friend.

At the bar, they ended up meeting some women and joined them at their table. Mr. Lim later went to a motel with a woman by the name of Ms. Jeon. It was at that point that the night went very wrong.

Ms. Jeon ended up accusing Mr. Lim of rape, demanding ₩6 million ($5,400) in compensation, money Mr. Lim paid to the woman. Ms. Jeon then demanded a further ₩100 million ($90,000), saying ‘if you don’t pay, I’m going to call the police.’

It was perhaps because of this threat that Mr. Lim suffered a brain hemorrhage on January 13th. Although he went through surgery, he remains in an unconscious condition.

However, a police report revealed that the woman who slept with Mr. Lim was part of a criminal gang’s ‘honeypot’ operation.

According to the North Chungcheon Police Department, on May 20th they arrested five individuals on suspicion of using sex to lure victims and steal their valuables. Among those arrested for theft and making threats were three women, all of whom have since been released.

Police say that the gang is suspected of stealing ₩43 million ($38,700) from three separate victims during a one month period last December. All of the victims of the ‘honeypot gang’ were either friends or acquaintances of the suspects.

The gang even went so far as to report one of the three victims, fifty-eight-year-old Mr. Jeong, to the police for rape after he failed to pay the demanded ₩70 million ($63,000).

The police report also mentioned how the gang planned ahead for cases where they would actually accuse the victim of rape, using disposable cell phones with which they wouldn’t contact their accomplices.

After obtaining confessions from the gang about their threats to the three victims, the police have begun examining similar cases from the same period.