In ‘Detectives‘ Trade Secret’, the ‘father-son detective squad’ set out to find a woman who went missing 30 years ago. Also, on ‘Case Note - How That Man Loves’, Kara’s leader Park Gyuri appeared as a guest and shared her story of a ‘romance scam’ using deepfake.

On the episode of Channel A‘s real-life detective drama ‘Detectives’ Trade Secrets’, which aired at 9:30 p.m. on the 11th, the ‘24 Hours Detective Team’ took on the story of a younger sibling and nephew looking for their older sister who went missing 30 years ago. The clients‘ older sister and aunt, who had been living an ordinary life, went missing 30 years ago after receiving a phone call saying, “I’m going to fix a watch.”

Not long after the older sister disappeared, her husband withdrew the report of her missing, raising questions. After that, an unknown woman with her children started living with her brother-in-law at the older sister‘s house, which deepened her suspicions about the brother-in-law. About 17 years after the disappearance, the nephew found the aunt’s children through the internet, but they were firm, saying, “Please don‘t contact me anymore.”

My eldest sister was declared legally dead after more than 5 years since she went missing. The family suspected her brother-in-law, but it was revealed that her brother-in-law was already declared dead in 1998, before my eldest sister was declared missing in 2003. Then, in Anyang, where my eldest sister went missing, detective Park Min-ho, a veteran detective and a legendary detective, mobilized all his connections to find my eldest sister’s nephew‘s middle school classmate. With the clues he obtained, detective Park Jun-seok, the ‘MZ Detective’, found a place that was presumed to be his current workplace, and was amazed. When my eldest sister’s nephew and the father-son detective team finally met, the video cut out, drawing cheers from the MCs.

Next, KARA‘s leader Park Gyuri joined the true story reconstruction corner ‘Case Notes - How That Man Loves’. The main character of the story that day was a female client who had been in a long-distance relationship with an American doctor boyfriend she met through SNS for three months. The boyfriend, who lived in the US, won her heart with his meticulous consideration, such as having flowers and porridge delivered to her when she was sick and regularly checking up on her via video chat before her surgery. However, the boyfriend, who said he would return to Korea permanently, stopped contacting her after he stood her up at the airport on the day. Defconn made everyone laugh by suddenly confessing to the client who had been stood up, “How about me?”

The amount of damage to the client was ‘2,623,250 won’, which is a small and ambiguous amount for a romance scam, which further aroused curiosity. The detective continued to track the client using the photo that the client’s friend sent her saying she saw the ‘American doctor boyfriend’ in Incheon as a clue. However, the man was working as a PT trainer at a gym in Incheon, and “I don’t know how many times this has happened. This is all deepfakes using my face,” he said, revealing that he was also a victim of ‘impersonation fraud’ who had been sued by another victim. The detective in the story explained, “These days, you can use deepfakes to make video calls and change your voice. Even elementary school students can do it with an app.”

As a result of the detectives’ continued investigation, the suspect was a male instructor at the academy where the client worked. It was shocking to discover that a student at the academy had been blackmailed by the male instructor and had created a deepfake composite photo of his ‘American doctor boyfriend’. It turned out that the male instructor had been unilaterally showing affection for the client and stalking her, but when he was rejected, he had created a virtual character called the ‘American doctor’ and approached her out of resentment. The ‘2,623,250 won’ in damages was the amount of money the instructor had charged the client for gifts and meals so far.

The instructor was sued by the health trainer who stole his face photo, the parent of the student who was exploited, and the client all at once. Rumors about him spread throughout the academy, and he eventually disappeared.

Meanwhile, Park Gyu-ri, who was overly immersed in the story, said, “It was like a ‘virtual reality’ because it was a program I usually enjoyed watching,” and expressed her deep feelings.

Photo = Channel A ‘The Detectives‘ Trade Secrets’

Lee Seul-bi, Donga.com Reporter misty82@donga.com