A KOREAN student in Bournemouth has praised the “unbelievable” generosity of residents who have helped her financially after she lost £20,000 in a job scam.
Second-year Arts University Bournemouth student Jiyeon Baek came to the UK from South Korea to pursue her dream of becoming a filmmaker.
However, her dream soon turned into a nightmare when she lost all her tuition fees for the remainder of the year after falling victim to a scam which has left her future studies in serious doubt.
It took Jiyeon three years to be in a position to come to the UK to study visual effects for film and television, which included a stint in Australia where she worked three jobs to save up money for her education.
Upon making it to Bournemouth, Jiyeon began looking for a job. She said: “I was contacted on the Telegram messaging app by what I thought was an employee of HotelsCombined offering me an online job reviewing hotels. I was relieved that I had found an job that would fit in around my studies and, as I had a similar job in Korea, I was confident that I could do it well.”
However, the person communicating with Jiyeon was not from HotelsCombined and they began incrementally tricking her out of her money on the pretence that deposits would enable her to withdraw commission from an account for her work.
After realising she no longer had access to the £20,000 she had gradually paid into said account, the 25-year-old…
