Olympian's ex-fiancé accused of romance scam while in relationship

Nam Hyun-hee, left, and Jeon Cheong-jo [NEWS1]

The former fiancé of fencing Olympic medalist Nam Hyun-hee is accused of committing a romance scam while still in a relationship with Nam, according to reports by the police on Wednesday.

According to the police on Monday, a man in his 30s reported the 27-year-old Jeon Cheong-jo for a romance scam.

The man told the police that the two made contact through a dating app several months ago.

He further said that Jeon had lured him with promises of marriage and subsequently requested financial assistance, with which he complied.

The man said that the photo Jeon had used on her dating app was her old photo when she had long hair.

However, during the time of the scam, Jeon, who was in a relationship with Nam, had short hair.

In a previous interview, Jeon said while she had a breast resection surgery in July and is currently taking hormone shots, she was still biologically a woman as she has yet to get a gender confirmation surgery.

The man said he only came to realize he had fallen victim to fraud after recent reports on Jeon came to light.

Jeon had gained public attention a little over a week ago when an interview featuring her and Nam announcing their engagement was published in a monthly magazine.

In the interview, Jeon had been introduced as the third-generation scion of a wealthy conglomerate.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]