Seo Hyun-Jin, recently seen starring opposite Gong Yoo in The Trunk, has become entangled in a significant financial scam involving a rental deposit, known as a jeonse fraud. Reports indicate she may not recover the full amount of her investment.
According to a NewsPirit report dated June 2, the Supreme Court’s auction records reveal that Seo personally filed for a property auction in April 2025 after her landlord defaulted on returning her hefty deposit for a luxury villa in Seoul’s Gangnam district. Seo initially signed the lease in April 2020 with a deposit of 2.5 billion KRW (approximately $1.81 million), renewing the contract in 2022 with an increased deposit of 2.65 billion KRW (around $1.92 million). Despite registering her leaseholder rights, the landlord failed to refund the deposit after the lease ended.
Delving deeper into the case, Seo finalized her leasehold registration in September 2024 and vacated the property. In an effort to reclaim her funds, she initiated the auction process herself in April 2025. Unfortunately, the villa was designated a “kkangtong house,” indicating its market value had dropped below the combined amount of loans and deposits tied to it. The initial auction round attracted no buyers, forcing a reduction in the minimum bid to 2.3 billion KRW (about $1.66 million), significantly less than Seo’s original deposit. Experts in real estate are concerned that the inflated price once attributed to the villa was unrealistic, and Seo might suffer a substantial financial loss.
Seo Hyun-Jin is widely recognized for her roles in popular dramas such as Another Miss Oh, Dr. Romantic, Temperature of Love, The Beauty Inside, You Are My Spring, and Why Her. Fans eagerly await her return to television with the upcoming K-Drama Love Me.