Did con man fake his own death to avoid prosecution?

A con artist who made 3.5 trillion won (3 million U.S. dollars) from a pyramid scheme and fled to China reportedly died of acute heart attack late last year.

Suspicion has been raised that the 55-year old man might have faked his own death because of the impossibility of conducting a DNA test to confirm his death. This is because his body was cremated and his confidant videotaped his funeral, which is unusual in Korean culture.

Police said that after eating a meal at a hotel in Qingdao with his girlfriend from Korea in December last year, the man complained of acute indigestion and died of a heart attack in an ambulance on his way to a hospital.

He had set up a pyramid scheme in Daegu in October 2006 and attracted some 30,000 investors for a high return in health devices. He was charged with pocketing 3.5 trillion won (3 million dollars) for two years.

The con artist then fled to China with the help of maritime police and officials of Taean, South Chungcheong Province in December 2008. He lived in Yantai disguised as a 53-year-old ethnic Korean resident of China.

Police found out about this after raiding his family’s home in Korea and finding a Chinese ID card, driver’s license, and passport that he allegedly used.

Investigators also obtained his emergency medical records and death certificate after questioning his family, and confirmed his death from the Chinese hospital and ER doctors on Dec. 18 last year.

A videotape of his funeral that showed his body in a casket was also found Monday. The footage was recorded by his confidant and submitted by his daughter to police. His family and the employees of his mistress attended the funeral.

Police said, however, that they cannot rule out that he faked his own death to give police and his victims the slip. The first red flag was that his body was cremated, which makes it impossible to run a DNA test.

A police source said, “If a body is cremated, all DNA information embedded in the bones is lost due to high temperatures, making it impossible to find biological information of the body.”

Others say the man`s funeral was intentionally videotaped to contain a close-up of his face after his sudden death, adding he might have faked his own death to avoid compensating his victims. In addition, forging documents and buying off officials in China are considered easy.

Another police source said, “We are investigating the case in consideration that he might have faked his own death.”

neo@donga.com