A Sad Story of Internet Fraud: Beware Steve Kim of Daekwang Corp.
by Brendon Carr
A couple of days ago some Korea Law Blog reader found me with this common tale of woe:
This is a long shot but I found you through Google (korealawblog.com) and thought I’d take a shot.
To make a very long story short, I wired $3800usd to an individual who goes by the name Steve Kim. He identifies himself as Director of a company in Seoul, Korea called Daekwang Corp. Co. LTD. and gives an address of:
330, MOKDONG APT.
1415-1205, SHINJUNG-DONG,
YANGCHUN-GU, SEOUL, KOREAI had been purchasing some products from him for several years (all around $1000usd) and he kept pushing for larger orders. In April of this year I made the larger order and never heard from him again. He does not respond to mail and I have not received any products. His wire information is:
BANK NAME : KOREA EXCHANGE BANK , MOKDONGNAMBRANCH
BANK ADDRESS : 158-071, 323-4, SHINJUNG-DONG, YANGCHUN-GU, SEOUL, KOREA
ACCOUNT NO. : 168-JSD-100737-7
SWIFT CODE : KOEXKRSE
BENEFICIARY : DAEKWANG CORP. CO., LTD.If you Google “Steve Kim Daekwang Corp” you will find more victims of this man.
I have written to the Korean Police and the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office in Seoul and received no response.
Can you please enlighten me (even if only briefly) if Korean Police or the government assists in such matters? I am woefully ignorant of Korean culture and if this is a matter of any interest to the government or local authorities there.
Sadly, I had to tell her that the Korean police and prosecutors are profoundly uninterested in fraud cases as a general rule, and in the woes of nonresidents as well. The victim needs to present him or her self to the investigators in person, plus the police generally have to be able to find the fraudster to interview him as well. So if you’re a nonresident foreigner who’s gotten cheated by a Korean, the odds are stacked against you.
One can hire an attorney to appear at the police station and prosecutors’ office to advance a fraud complaint without coming to Korea, but that requires hiring and paying the attorney, and a significant investment at that (because the police and prosecutors are generally vile in their treatment of fraud complainants, and inefficient to boot, which means a lot of unpleasant yet billable time for the attorney). But for most of the folks who got screwed out of amounts of several thousands of dollars, that would simply be throwing good money after bad.
It’s best, therefore, to avoid getting cheated in the first place.
Out of curiosity, I did Google “Steve Kim Daekwang Corp”. There’s enough there to warn anyone away from doing any sort of business with Steve Kim of Daekwang Corp. Co., Ltd. (actually, any company calling itself Daekwang Corp. Co., Ltd. probably would set off my Spidey sense, as Corp. Co., Ltd. is three ways of saying the same thing).
I also checked the commercial register to locate “Daekwang Corp. Co., Ltd.” at the address reported for Mr. Kim. According to the companies database of the Seoul District Court, which has jurisdiction over that address, there is no corporation registered there. Another, relatively well-known corporation goes by the name “Daekwang Co, Ltd.” (alternatively, “Daekwang Corporation”)—it trades in hiking gear, but is registered at another address. There is likely no connection at all between them. If anyone locally should be upset by Steve Kim, it’s these guys.
It probably bears repeating that scumbags like Steve Kim are not all that creative. In 2005 I wrote “How to Get Cheated Every Time: Ignore These Warnings” on the Marmot’s Hole. It’s recommended reading for anyone thinking of doing business with Steve Kim of Daekwang Corp. Co., Ltd. Forewarned is forearmed.
Actually, in the 2005 piece, I make a throwaway reference to “Kimsco World Incorporation CO., LTD.”, an imaginary not-a-real-corporation, which also has the same dippy three-ways-incorporated branding that Steve Kim is using. Guys like him are really not creative!
UPDATE 12/08—Commenter Robert Donaci of Donaci Hair Extensions, another Daekwang Corp Co., Ltd. victim, reports today that Steve Kim now says his business is “bankrupt” due to the bad reports about Steve’s fraudulent business practices, and that’s why Steve can’t fulfill Donaci’s order. It’s always someone else’s fault with these guys.
UPDATE 2/12/2009—According to the club of Steve Kim’s victims that has coalesced at the Anti-Fraud International forums, the ease with which his scam can be discovered through a Google search has prompted him to change his identity. Now Steve Kim is masquerading as “David Kim” of “Taesan Corp. Co., Ltd.” Here’s his pitch:
T O : TO WHOM MAY IT CONCERN
DATE : FEB. 06, 2009
FROM : TAESAN CORP. CO., LTD.
MR. DAVID KIM / GENERAL MANAGER
TEL) 82-2-2647-3660
E-MAIL : .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
RE. : HUMAN HAIR WIGS AND EXTENSION HAIR , TOUPEE ,
BUSINESS
DEAR SIR,
WE ARE ONE OF LEADING MANUFACTURING COMPANY OF HUMAN HAIR WIGS
AND EXTENSION HAIR, TOUPEE OF CUSTOM-MADE USING 100% HUMAN HAIR &
SYNTHETIC HAIR IN KOREA AND IN CHINA. (HIGH QUALITY)
WE ARE EXPORTING THE ABOVE ITEMS TO FOREIGN COUNTRY SUCH AS U.S.A, EUROPE,
CANADA, AUSTRALIA, .....ETC.
WE EXPORT TO OUR FRENCH-TOP WIGS, MONO-TOP WIGS , FULL LACE WIGS,
FRONT LACE WIGS USING 100% EUROPEAN HUMAN HAIR TO OUR BUYERS UNTIL NOW.
WE PRODUCE HIGH QUALITY WOMAN WIGS USING 100% EUROPEAN HAIR OR INDIAN REMY HAIR
& CHINESE HUMAN HAIR OF FRENCH-TOP WIGS, MONO-TOP WIGS , FULL LACE WIGS ,
FRONT LACE WIGS , CLOSURES (TOP-PIECES) AND EXTENSION HAIR OF WITH KERATIN GLUE
( U-TYPE(NAIL), I-TYPE(STICK), V-TYPE) & SKIN WEFT OF HAND KNOTTING ON PU , TOUPEE (MAN’S WIG)
USING 100% EUROPEAN HUMAN HAIR OR REMY INDIAN HUMAN HAIR OR CHINESE HUMAN HAIR
WE HAVE EXPERANCE OF 10 YEARS OF ABOVE ITEMS UNTIL NOW ANDSO WE CAN SUPPLY
THE ABOVE ITEMS AT BEST PRICES TO YOU EXACTLY.
IF YOU HAVE AN INQUIRY OF THE ABOVE-MENTIONED ITEMS,
PLEASE INFORM US YOUR INQUIRY IN DETAILED ( QUANTITY, ITEMS, STYLE, COLOR, LENGTH )
BY E-MAIL SOONEST.
AFTER WE RECEIVE YOUR INQUIRY, WE WILL CHECK YOUR INQUIRY AND WE WILL INFORM
OUR REPLY TO YOU.
YOUR PROMPT REPLY WILL BE HIGHLY APPRECIATED.
THANKS AND BEST REGARDS
DAVID KIM
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Yes, I am the victim mentioned above. Thank you for posting this as it’s been indexed by Google already. The more Steve Kim Daekwang Corp comes up, the greater possibility others will see it and keep their money in their pocket.
I read frequently of people throwing their money into the Eastern wind only to later become a sad, enraged story on the Internet. I always thought I’d eventually be added to the list but never with someone I’d spent several years doing business with. This snake knew all along he was merely reeling me in slowly for the bigger score.
Anna—Korea Law Blog has pretty good visibility, and gets into the Google index with fairly high placement about 30 minutes after I make a post. It seemed to me that even though I couldn’t do anything for you in a professional capacity (because of the “good money after bad” factor), it’s worthwhile to tell your story.
Steve Kim, if he gets wind of Korea Law Blog and the fact that I live here in Korea, is likely to hassle me. “Defamation” is a crime under the laws of Korea, a fact used more by the crooks of this country than by the righteous. So I expect that Steve Kim and I might end up spending some time together in a police station.
That’s a risk I’m prepared to run, since the public ought to be able to know what’s up with Steve Kim and Daekwang Corp. Co., Ltd., and to make risk decisions based on information available. But it will help if more people who got cheated by this bum tell their stories here—please contact anyone you’ve already corresponded with, and ask him or her to leave a comment here at Korea Law Blog with contact information. I’ll mask the contact information, but I need it for my own records when the cops summon me.
Comment re-written by Korea Law Blog for clarity.
Daekwang Corp is a hair extensions trading company from South Korea. Steve Kim contacted me through the internet at trade site Alibaba, as I placed an looking for suppliers. He sent me samples and they were good. I bought some products from him and this went fine, but he kept pushing me for a larger order, which I thought was suspicious. He had no company email or website, which I thought was strange. And to be honest, I had a bad feeling about him—but you overlook this as difference in cultures. I should have listened to my instinct, as it was right. After 2-3 orders, I placed an order for a larger amount of $3000 USD and with this, he was gone. I had paid up front and have not heard from him since all the contact details ring out or do not get answered. This sort of behavior is a poor reflection on South Korea and the Korean government for not regulating their business industry.
BEWARE: STEVE KIM IS A CON ARTIST AND WILL TAKE YOUR MONEY AND YOU WILL NOT HEAR FROM HIM AGAIN. FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME AT [bobby@hairextensionsqld.com]
The address and contact information is noted below:
HEAD OFFICE :
330, MOKDONG APT.
1415-1205, SHINJUNG-DONG,
YANGCHUN-GU, SEOUL, KOREA
TEL : 82-2-2647-3660
FAX : 82-2-2646-3661
E-MAIL : [lovekkbk@hanmail.net]
Brendon: Since I work and live in this area, I looked his address up on Congnamul - that place is less than 5 minutes drive from either my office or home. He’s giving my neighborhood a bad reputation. -Chris
I suppose what frustrates me more than anything is that Kim has been using the same address, the same bank account and the same Western Union information for several years. He is not the proverbial needle in the haystack.
Chris, I’d give me eye teeth to be in your geographical fix right now. Steve Kim would definitely be seeing the whites of my eyes if that were so.
Yes, this is very sad. It seems that he is out in the open, and if the Korean government cared at all they could easily do something about him. It is a sad day for international trade when someone like this goes about ripping hard working people off and nobody does a thing.
My company just received a “can you help me?” letter from (yet another) victim of Steve Kim, a gentleman who has lost over US$17,000 to such a scam according to what he wrote. Ouch. The victim told me I should Google Steve Kim at Daekwang Corp. which I did. 67,500 references, and every entry on the first three pages contains “scam”, “fraud”, or “beware.”
Sad…
This is out of control. Really, can this man be stopped by ANYONE in Korea?
If a victim of Steve Kim presented him or herself in person to the police and prosecutors, and endured the rude treatment that any complainant receives from the authorities when asking for their assistance, then yes—something would likely be done. But without a formal complaint being filed, the police cannot act on their own.
If the South Korean police are not interested in fraud cases, are they interested in cases involving money laundering through South Korean banks?
Steve Kim from Daekwang Corp in South Korea looks to have a new alibaba account. He calls his account “lovefamily” ??
The name he has now for contact is KIM HYUNG JUN. This may actually be his Korean name. His phone number may be fake but it’s a different number than what he used to send on his invoices.
Wonder if anyone has actually dialed it, hmm?
In any event, he used to have Steve Kim under an alibaba account so this development is worth noting.
Registered Name: KIM HYUNG JUN
Job Title: Director/CEO/General Manager
Country: South Korea
Company Name: DAEKWANG CORP. CO., LTD.
Business Type: Trading Company
Products/Services: Wig, Weft, Extension Hair
Tel: 82-02-26480339
Steve Kim Daekwang Corp has now emerged from hiding with a new identity and company name. He is now calling himself David Kim TAESAN CORP CO LTD South Korea.
Yes, he is using the “Corp Co Ltd” combination again.
He is already soliciting companies in the United States and overseas to purchase from him.
The South Korean Arbitration Board has been going to Kim’s last known address but he is not answering the door. We’ll be forwarding this new information to them.