'Touch Your Heart' star Yoo In-na opens up about being a victim of romance scam: 'I was terrified'
South Korean actress Yoo In-na revealed that she was once a victim of a romance scam wherein her identity was used to trick other people.
Yoo recalled the "strange" experience as she interviewed Park Jeong-min on her Yoo In Radio YouTube channel. As they were reading a story about a person on a blind date, Yoo remembered how she learned that a scammer had been using her photos to dupe people.
"It was a long time ago, in my early 20s. I was working part-time at a café when a man came up to me and said, 'Hye-young.' I said, 'I'm not Hye-young.' He replied, 'You are Hye-young,'" Yoo recounted.
The man, adamant that she was Hye-young, refused to believe her protests.
"Super creepy. So I said, 'I'm really not. I'm In-na!' And then he sighed, pulled out his phone—it was a flip phone since it was so long ago—and started showing me photos," she said.
Park asked, "Were they your photos?"
"Yes. I was so confused. Turns out, some woman had taken all my photos from Cyworld and posted them as hers," Yoo answered, referring to the social networking service originating in South Korea.
"She even made up stories about where she went and what she did in the photos—like, 'I did this on this day' or 'I went there.' But it didn't stop there, it turned out to be a romance scamming," she continued.
According to Yoo, the scammer had borrowed about one to two million won (P40,812 to P81,624) from the man and had not returned it.
"Back then, that amount of money felt so huge to me. I told him, 'That's not me. Check my Cyworld account, all these photos are there.' So he confronted that 'Hye-young' woman saying, 'I found the real person in these photos. I know who she is and I'll sue you,'" Yoo said.
"Only then did she contact him and paid the money back. That's how it got resolved. Isn't that such a crazy story?" she added. "Of course, it was a bad thing, but now, after all these years, it's just become a wild life story."
Yoo rose to fame after starring in the 2012 romance-fantasy series Queen and I. She subsequently landed roles in popular projects such as My Love from the Star and Touch Your Heart.
Not only in Korea but also in the PH
Romance scams are also a pressing issue in the Philippines, with the recent victim being television anchor Migs Bustos. Because of this, Department of Justice Assistant Secretary Mico Clavano urged others to report these types of crimes especially since the holiday season sees an increase in online activities.
"Ngayon maraming tao ay nakatutok sa kanilang cellphone lalo na Pasko na. Tayo bilang Pilipino, avid users tayo ng social media kaya very vulnerable po talaga ang mga Pilipino dito sa mga ganitong scams and Migs Bustos is one of the victims, but there are so many out there [who also fall victim]," Clavano said.
He further cautioned the public to be more vigilant about people they talk to online due to the prevalence of using AI to mimic real-life persons.
"Make sure kung that sino man ang kausap mo, siya talaga iyon. Be very careful of AI videos. There are certain methods that you can search online to tell kung deepfake ba talaga iyon, kung AI ang ginagamit," Clavano said.
Based on data gathered by the DOJ, there have been more than 100 Filipinos who fell victim to love scams.
