Someone recorded our video call and wants money. What do I do in Korea?

Do not pay, and do not delete anything. Stop replying, save the evidence, and report it to the police. What is happening to you is a recognised crime in Korea: using a sexual recording to threaten someone carries a prison term of at least 1 year, and at least 3 years if the threat forces you to do something, such as sending more money or more images. Paying rarely ends the demands. Agreeing to the video call does not make you responsible for the blackmail, and a threat to tell your employer, your family abroad or immigration does not change who the offender is.

How does this scam usually work?

It is often called body cam phishing (몸캠피싱) or sextortion. The details change, but the pattern is familiar:

1. A friendly stranger starts chatting on a dating app, social media or a language exchange site, sometimes in your own language.
2. The chat moves to a video call, and the stranger encourages you to undress or act sexually on camera.
3. You are asked to install an app or open a file, "for better sound" or "to see my photos". That file copies your contact list.
4. A message arrives with a recording of the call and a screenshot of your contacts, with a demand: pay now, or everyone receives the video.

Foreign residents hear extra threats aimed at their situation. The offender may say they will send the video to your company, your university, your community group or the immigration office, or that you will be deported for "indecency". Those threats are part of the crime, not information about your legal position.

Should I pay so that it stops?

No. Payment tells the offender that you will pay again, and in practice the second demand usually follows the first. Money sent through transfers, gift cards or cryptocurrency is very hard to trace back, and many of these groups operate from outside Korea.

If you have already paid, you have done nothing wrong. Keep every receipt and the account details you were given, and tell the police and your bank straight away. Whether the receiving account can be frozen depends on how the bank and the police classify the case, so ask them both.

What should I do in the next hour?

• Stop all contact. Do not argue, plead or bargain. Anything you say can be used to push you further.
• Save before you block. Screenshot the offender's profile, user ID, phone number, every message and every demand, including bank account or wallet details.
• Keep the phone as it is. The police may want to examine it, including the app you were told to install, so do not reset it before speaking to them.
• Change your passwords for email, messaging and social media from another device if you can, and switch on two-step login.
• Consider warning close contacts. A short message saying "if you receive a strange video or link from a stranger, do not open it, it is a scam" takes much of the power away from the threat.
• Report the account to the platform after you have saved the evidence.

Is it a crime even though I agreed to the call?

Yes. Each step the offender took is a separate offence, and your agreement to a private call covers none of them.

The offender's act	Offence
Recorded you without your agreement	Covered by the hidden filming offence
Sent or threatened to send images you had sent yourself	Distribution against your will is punished even when you made the images
Used the recording, or a fake edited video, to threaten you	Threat using a sexual recording, at least 1 year in prison
Forced you to pay, send more images or do anything else	At least 3 years in prison
Took money from you through the threat	Also extortion (공갈) under the Criminal Act, up to 10 years

An attempt is punishable too. The offender does not have to post anything for the threat to count.

Where do I report, and in what language?

Go to a police station, or contact the cyber crime unit (사이버수사대) of the regional police. Bring your phone, the screenshots and your passport or residence card. Ask for an interpreter at the start; the police can commission one. Bring a friend if it helps: victims of this particular crime are entitled, on request, to have someone they trust beside them while they are questioned.

Korean police have a special power for digital sexual crimes: officers may investigate online without revealing that they are police, and in some cases under a cover identity. That is one reason a report can lead somewhere even when you only know a username.

If any video has already been posted, the state's support centre for victims of digital sexual crimes (디지털성범죄피해자지원센터) can look for copies and send takedown requests. If you were under 19 when this happened, the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth Against Sex Offenses (아동ㆍ청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률) also applies, and a parent or guardian can report for you.

They say they will tell immigration. Should I worry?

Being blackmailed is not a breach of your visa conditions, and immigration does not act on messages from a criminal. Because a threat based on a sexual recording is classed as a sexual crime, the special extension rule for foreign victims whose case is still open may cover you too.

For people whose stay has already expired, officials investigating threats or sexual crimes are allowed to hold back from reporting a victim to immigration when they decide that helping the victim comes first. It is a decision made in each case. If your status worries you, speak to a lawyer first, and report anyway; the evidence is only useful while the offender is still active.

Next step

Put your screenshots, the offender's IDs and any payment receipts in one folder and keep the phone unchanged. If you want help reporting, advice on your stay while the case runs, or a lawyer to deal with the police for you, bring that folder and your residence card to a consultation. Consultations are paid; when you contact us, a staff member will call you back and explain the fee.

법무법인 대한중앙
1533-7377

Rules applied

Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes (성폭력범죄의 처벌 등에 관한 특례법) Article 2(1) no. 5 (Articles 3 to 15 are sexual crimes), Article 14(1) and (2) (filming without consent; distribution against the person's will, including images the person made), Article 14-2 (edited material), Article 14-3(1) and (2) (threat using a sexual recording or edited material, at least 1 year; coercion by that threat, at least 3 years), Article 15 (attempt), Article 22-2(1) and (2) (undisclosed and cover identity investigations of digital sexual crimes), Article 23-2(1) (police request for deletion), Article 34(1) no. 1 and (2) (trusted person for victims of Article 14-3 offences). Criminal Act (형법) Article 350 (extortion, up to 10 years or 20 million won). Criminal Procedure Act (형사소송법) Article 221(2) (interpreter commissioned by police). Immigration Act (출입국관리법) Article 25-2(1) no. 2 (extension during a sexual crime case), Article 84(1); Enforcement Decree Article 92-2 no. 5; Enforcement Rule Article 70-2 nos. 1 and 2 (investigations of threats, extortion and Sexual Crimes Act offences). Act on the Protection of Children and Youth Against Sex Offenses (아동ㆍ청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률) named without article numbers.

This is general information, not legal advice. Every case is different.