Warning Against No-Show Scam Exploiting Lee Jae-yong's Name

A story has emerged among small business owners that an eel restaurant operator was almost caught in a 'No-Show' scam impersonating a visit from Lee Jae-yong, the chairman of Samsung Electronics.

On the 3rd, a post was shared in the small business community 'It Hurts, So I’m a Boss' by an operator, referred to as A, who runs an eel restaurant. According to A, they received a reservation call on the 2nd for 20 people to visit the following evening, the 3rd.

A explained, “I received a very polite call,” adding, “Since it was a weekday, I accepted the reservation.”

Afterwards, A was asked to send a photograph of the menu since they needed to report it to higher management. A complied and received a long text message along with a business card from someone who introduced themselves as B, an agent in the physical security team at Samsung Town.

B detailed the reservation date, time, and number of guests in their message, requesting “20 eels and 10 servings of kimchi noodles, please” and stated that “any additional items or alcohol will be ordered upon arrival.”

Scam Attempt Revealed Through Wine Purchase Request

Initially, A did not suspect anything was wrong, but the situation changed when B called again around 3 PM on the reservation day, the 3rd.

B asked A to purchase a specific wine that may be attended by Chairman Lee, claiming it was not available in stores and requested A to buy it through a link they would send by 7 PM.

At this point, A instinctively realized it was a scam and canceled the reservation.

A stated, “I told them to go eat elsewhere,” adding, “We are usually a busy place, so it doesn’t matter to us, but after receiving the reservation call yesterday and preparing ingredients, getting another phone call like this makes me anxious that we might end up paying through the link and getting scammed.”

Other small business owners reacted to this story by sharing similar experiences, saying things like “A friend of mine was scammed for 10 million won in the same way,” “Clicking the link could install malware that lets them see all the information on my smartphone remotely,” “There are really diverse scam tactics,” “We need to report this to Samsung,” and “Pretty soon, Trump will be making reservations too.”

Image sources: Naver Café ‘It Hurts, So I’m a Boss’