Lee Jae-myung Declares All-Out War on Disaster Income 'Illegal Kkang'... "Even Deploying Mystery Shopping"

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, announced that he will take all possible measures to prevent prepaid cards issued as disaster basic income from being 'illegally discounted' (Kkang) in the market.

On the 22nd, through a post on Facebook titled "Illegal discounting (Kkang) will definitely be stopped even by deploying mystery shopping," Governor Lee warned, "Buying, selling, or advertising disaster basic income provided via prepaid cards is a serious crime punishable by up to 3 years imprisonment and a fine of 20 million KRW under the Electronic Financial Transactions Act," adding, "Operators of trading platforms who knowingly allow or neglect such activities will also be punished as accomplices."

He continued, "Disaster basic income is a key policy aimed at overcoming the economic crisis caused by COVID-19 by saving taxes to increase disposable income and stimulate consumption, thereby supporting the sales and production of small and medium-sized merchants," emphasizing, "Illegal discount transactions (commonly called Kkang) are not only crimes but also undermine the trust in this important policy. Therefore, attempts to discount, advertise, or mediate such transactions involving disaster basic income must not be permitted."

Accordingly, Gyeonggi Province will establish and implement measures to prevent illegal discounting.

The province will first identify all intermediary marketplaces where discount transactions might occur and demand the blocking of such transactions. If discount transactions are attempted in violation, both the requester and the marketplace operators will be held jointly responsible as accomplices. Additionally, the relevant cards will be invalidated, and the full amount of the discounted disaster basic income will be reclaimed.

To this end, the province has established an investigative cooperation system with the northern and southern Gyeonggi Police Agencies and will form and operate a special investigation team centered on the Gyeonggi Provincial Special Judicial Police.

Furthermore, a monitoring team led by the Gyeonggi Provincial Special Judicial Police will establish a continuous surveillance system, and a reporting center (031-120) will be activated.

In particular, to eradicate illegal discounting, the province will introduce the 'mystery shopping technique,' an investigative method involving undercover purchases to arrest requesters.

Governor Lee added, "Although no attempts to discount Gyeonggi Province disaster basic income have been detected so far, we are preparing all possible measures to eradicate illegal discount transactions assuming they may occur."

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