Jeonnam Gwangyang police officers arrested a 47-year-old female suspect, surnamed Lee, on charges of theft by fraud, allegedly having deceived the victim by dressing up as a man, local media outlets reported Friday.

Lee is said to have approached the 57-year-old female victim, surnamed Kim, in Incheon early on this year. Because Lee appeared to look much like a man, the suspect used this to her advantage when approaching Kim to lure her into a romantic relationship.

Lee and Kim had been in a co-living relationship for a while until Kim could not keep up with her living expenses. Soon after in July, Kim said that they moved into her 73-year-old sister-in-law‘s house in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province.

The sister-in-law, surnamed Im, who made her living on a farm with her son, offered to help Kim considering their close relationship and welcomed Kim, along with Lee, into her home.


Both Kim and Im reported to the police that they had no idea about Lee’s gender due to Lee’s mischievous act of playing the “gentle boyfriend.” The victims further added on that Lee was “a man they could depend on.”

After two months of living at Im’s house, Lee allegedly used the password to the house, stole Im‘s bank book, withdrew 2 million won ($1,840) and then fled to Incheon in Im’s car.

Kim suspected that Lee was actually a woman after recalling the times when Lee would avoid sexual contact and the fact that Lee had a different body shape than that of most men.

After two months of searching for Lee‘s whereabouts, police officers arrested the suspect around Lee’s neighborhood in Incheon on Nov. 21.

Lee is said to have appealed to the police officers upon arrest that she had neither denied being a woman nor acknowledged being a man. The suspect also denied “dressing up as a man.”

Lee is known to have 18 previous convictions of fraud.

By Catherine Chung (cec82@heraldcorp.com)