A logo is seen on the main gate of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 5th. Han Su-bin

A man in his 20s who used AI to make an account with a balance of 23 won look as if it held 900 million won and thereby avoided detention has been caught.

According to the legal community on the 11th, Criminal Division 3 of the Busan Dongbu District Prosecutors Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Geon) indicted A (27) in custody on the 6th on charges including fraud and forging and using private documents, for allegedly taking about 320 million won under the pretext of investment funds and submitting a false bank balance certificate to investigators.

According to prosecutors, from August to October last year A used AI to create fake images such as a National Medical Licensing Examination pass certificate and records of cryptocurrency holdings to solicit investment and took about 320 million won. At the pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant review), A submitted an AI-forged bank balance certificate, claiming there were 900 million won in the account.

The court is said to have dismissed the detention warrant at the time in consideration of A promising to repay the full amount of the damage. About a month after the dismissal, a prosecutor confirmed that A had not returned the money to the victims and began a supplementary investigation. Noting that A had previously used AI to forge materials such as the medical licensing exam pass certificate, prosecutors questioned the authenticity of the balance certificate.

Through fact inquiries and account tracing, prosecutors found that the balance certificate had also been forged and that the actual balance of the account was only 23 won. A is said to have presented a similarly forged balance certificate not only to the presiding judge and the prosecutor in charge but also to the victims. Prosecutors then obtained a new detention warrant and, after further investigation, indicted A in custody.

A prosecution official said “The defendant submitted fake AI images so elaborate that they were not discernible to the naked eye, deceiving even the judge” and “The supplementary investigation by the prosecutor corrected the court error and identified additional offenses”.