Korean police say I'm a "money mule" because scam money went through my bank account — I'm an E-2 teacher, what now?

Take this seriously, but do not panic: receiving and forwarding money for someone else is a real offense in Korea, and the police call is the beginning of a formal investigation, not an arrest. Most people in your position are questioned as a suspect and go home the same day. Whether you can leave Korea in four months depends on what happens between now and then — which is why the first interview matters more than anything after it.

What this is under Korean law

Two provisions are typically in play. Handing your account to someone else to use — including receiving and forwarding funds on their instruction — can be charged under the Electronic Financial Transactions Act (전자금융거래법, jeonja geumyung georae-beop), which prohibits transferring or lending an "access medium" (접근매체, jeopgeun maeche) such as a bank card or account credentials. Penalties are up to three years' imprisonment or a fine of up to KRW 20 million. The phrase you heard, 대포통장 (daepo tongjang), is slang for exactly this: an account used under someone else's control.

The more serious question is fraud. If the police believe you knew, or should have known, that the money came from a scam, you can be investigated for aiding fraud (사기방조, sagi bangjo) under Articles 347 and 32 of the Criminal Act, or under the Telecommunications-based Financial Fraud Act (통신사기피해환급법). Knowledge is the whole case. Your frozen account is the result of a payment-suspension request (지급정지, jigeup jeongji) filed after the victim reported.

How the process works in Korea

The police investigate first. At the end they either send the case to the prosecutor (송치, songchi) or decide not to refer it (불송치, bulsongchi). The prosecutor then decides whether to indict. Unlike many US jurisdictions, only the prosecutor can bring charges, and a first-time offender with limited involvement has real outcomes short of trial: a non-referral, a non-indictment, or a suspension of indictment (기소유예, giso yuye). A summary fine is also common. None of that is guaranteed; it is the range.

Your situation as a foreign national

You can be placed under a departure suspension (출국정지, chulguk jeongji) under Article 4 of the Immigration Act while a criminal investigation is pending. It is not automatic, and it is more likely where the police believe a suspect may leave before the case is resolved. A booked flight is not a defense; a lawyer engaged early, a clear cooperative record, and a fixed address are the things that make it less likely, and a departure suspension can be challenged and lifted.

You are entitled to an interpreter during questioning. If you are detained, you have the right to have your consulate notified under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention. You also have the right to counsel present at the interview.

On your visa: E-2 status is not cancelled by being questioned. A conviction or a fine is a fact the Immigration Office may consider at renewal or change of status, and employers are sometimes contacted during investigations. Those are principles, not predictions; immigration outcomes are decided by the Immigration Office, not the court. MEGA X handles the criminal case, and where the case affects your immigration status we coordinate with an immigration specialist as part of your defense.

What to do now, and what not to do

Do not attend the interview alone, and do not "just explain everything" in the hope that honesty settles it. Honesty is right; an unprepared statement, given through a limited interpreter, is not the same as honesty. Preserve everything: the app conversation, the transfer records, the messages where he explained why he needed your account, and any moment where you hesitated. Do not contact him again. Do not close or empty other accounts. Prepare your account of events with your lawyer before the interview, in your own language, and confirm that the written statement matches what you actually said before signing.

From a former police investigator's perspective

In money mule cases, investigators are trying to sort the naive from the complicit, and they do it with a few concrete questions: How much were you paid, and did it look like a favor or a fee? How many times, and how fast did you forward the money? Did you keep any of it? Did anything — a warning from the bank, an odd instruction — put you on notice? Did you keep control of your own card, or hand it over? Someone who did it twice, kept their card, and stopped is a different file from someone who did it twenty times. Your answers to those questions, documented rather than improvised, decide which file you are.

Four months is enough time for this to be handled properly if you start now. We work with clients in Korea and with families abroad; reach us by text consultation or at +82-2-522-3959 before your interview date, not after.

— MEGA X Law Firm Korea, Criminal Defense Team