Navoi resident loses $15,000 in fake South Korea job scheme

Following recent official disclosures by the Prosecutor General’s Office regarding a massive corruption ring promising employment in South Korea, affected citizens have begun sharing their grievances with Kun.uz.

One of the victims is Otabek Sharipov, a disabled resident from Khatirchi district of Navoi region. Driven by the hope of securing a stable future for his only son, Sharipov entrusted his entire life savings to a local middleman who turned out to be a key link in a highly structured fraudulent network. The broker promised that his son would be working in South Korea within months, but the arrangement eventually collapsed, culminating in the middleman's arrest.

The mechanics of the deception

According to Sharipov, the process began in 2024 when a registration voucher distribution system was introduced for those seeking work in South Korea. His son, who was working in Tashkent at the time, paid the standard $24 fee to obtain a voucher. Lacking technical guidance on how to navigate the official system, the family sought assistance. Neighbors recommended Bakhtiyor Norkhonov, a fellow villager residing in Tashkent, who claimed he could guide applicants through the pipeline.

During an in-person meeting in the capital, Norkhonov informed the family that guiding the candidate through the official process would require initial expenses ranging between $10,000–15,000. To raise the necessary capital, Sharipov sold a portion of his house and exchanged the local currency for US dollars. Norkhonov assured him that the young man would arrive in South Korea within three months.

The fraudulent scheme involved deep manipulation of the official testing protocols. To guarantee progress, the middleman arranged for an unrelated substitute to illegally enter the examination hall and sit for the preliminary test in place of Sharipov's son. The surrogate successfully scored 86 points, after which the broker told the young man he would have to take the subsequent stages himself. The family paid additional sums and obtained an international passport.

The extortion continued under the guise of mandatory preparatory steps. The middleman directed the candidate to an language training center called Choson, which was allegedly affiliated with the migration agency, charging a steep fee of $700 per week.

Empty promises and final arrest

Despite several selection rounds taking place throughout 2025, the young man was never selected for deployment. To maintain the deception, Norkhonov contacted the family claiming he had breakthrough news, demanding an additional $4,500 to expedite a direct visa invitation from South Korea. Sharipov managed to gather UZS 36 million, and the broker agreed that the remaining $1,500 could be paid back from the son's future wages in Korea. Later, the middleman extracted another $1,300 directly from the son, bringing the total loss to $15,000.

As 2026 arrived with no results, the family grew deeply concerned about the lack of progress and the passage of time. The scheme finally unraveled when law enforcement agencies launched an anti-corruption crackdown targeting illegal migration brokers, resulting in Norkhonov's arrest and detention.

When asked why he did not pursue official, fee-free employment channels, Sharipov noted that a complete lack of information left his family vulnerable. He explained that they simply did not know how or where to apply through state channels, and chose to rely entirely on the broker's explicit assurances of guaranteed placement within a year.

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