Kim Jong-min, 46, recently opened up about losing his entire fortune to scams in the past.
On the October 19th episode of SBS's variety show 'My Little Old Boy,' Kim Jong-min and Heo Kyung-hwan visited the workplace of Yang Chi-seung.
During the episode, Yang Chi-seung shared his own experience of being scammed out of 1.5 billion KRW (approximately $1.3 million USD). In response, Kim Jong-min revealed, “I have had many similar experiences. When I started with Koyote in my early 20s, someone suggested we go into the silk liquor supply business together. I invested all my money, but the liquor never arrived. After a week, there was no contact, and the person fled to the U.S.”
Kim Jong-min continued, “In 2006, I invested in a clothing business. The clothes were good, and the business seemed successful, so I invested more. Suddenly, I lost contact, and after investigating, I found out the person had gambled away the investment at a casino.”
The scams didn’t stop there. Kim Jong-min added, “In 2007, I had to fulfill my alternative military service and owned a foreign car. I asked someone to sell it for me, and they claimed it was sold the next day, asking for the car registration. I handed it over, expecting payment the following day, but when I checked, the car had been shipped overseas.”
When asked if he had told his wife about these incidents before marriage, Kim Jong-min admitted, “I didn’t tell her everything.” He humorously added, “When she saw my bank account balance, she asked where I was hiding the money. She couldn’t believe I had been on TV for decades and had so little.”
Reported by Tae Yuna, TenAsia youyou@tenasia.co.kr