Man in his 50s who embezzled 5 billion won through fraudulent orders over 10 years sent to prosecution in custody

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] A man in his 50s who embezzled 5 billion KRW by committing order fraud for 10 years against a large stationery store in Seocho-gu, Seoul, has been sent to the prosecution in custody.

According to the police on the 9th, the Seocho Police Station in Seoul sent Mr. A to the prosecution on the 5th on charges of fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.

Mr. A placed orders worth hundreds of thousands to millions of KRW for stationery items such as photo paper and copy paper, then embezzled 5 billion KRW by canceling payment approvals through a card terminal-related program installed on his laptop. His fraudulent activities spanned about 10 years from early 2010 to February this year, totaling approximately 1,400 incidents.

Mr. A, who was running a restaurant, is known to have used his past experience working at a card terminal-related company to carry out these crimes. He reportedly resold the ordered goods on online secondhand trading sites at 50-60% of the retail price to cover living expenses.

The stationery store was unaware of the damage until recently, when sales sharply declined due to the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), prompting them to review the records and discover the fraud. The store closes at 9 p.m., but suspicious activity was found as card payment approvals were canceled after 10 p.m., leading to a police report.

The police are continuing additional investigations, suspecting that Mr. A may have committed similar crimes.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.