Scammers exploit North Korean defector families, charging up to $14,500 to locate repatriated relatives

Scammers exploit North Korean defector families, charging up to $14,500 to locate repatriated relatives

Con artists in Hyesan are promising to find defectors and secure prison camp releases, leaving families homeless after they sell houses to raise funds with no information to show for it. “Multiple defector families have recently become the target of scams in the city of Hyesan. Fraudsters approach families who don’t know what happened to defectors in the family and rip them off on the pretense of finding their loved ones,” a source in Ryanggang …