Gyeonggi Special Judicial Police Detect 80 People Involved in Real Estate Corruption Including Price Fixing

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province has uncovered a large number of real estate offenders involved in price collusion and other corrupt practices.

On the 3rd, Gyeonggi Province announced that it had identified 80 illegal actors who disrupted the order of real estate transactions by colluding to report normal properties sold at bargain prices as false listings, thereby obstructing legitimate brokerage activities, or by conducting brokerage without proper certification.

Kim Young-soo, Chief of the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police for Fairness, held a press conference at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Office in Suwon on the same day to announce the "Investigation Results on Illegal Real Estate Activities Including Price Collusion."

Chief Kim stated, "Until now, price collusion was in a legal blind spot due to the absence of punishment regulations, but since February 21, it has become punishable under the revised Licensed Real Estate Agents Act. The Gyeonggi Special Judicial Police focused on investigating price collusion and filed criminal charges against all 11 suspects confirmed to have committed crimes."

He added, "We also conducted intensive investigations into illegal apartment subscription fraud, unlawful resale, and unlicensed or unregistered brokerage activities reported by residents and requested by city and county authorities, identifying 69 individuals including licensed real estate agents and illegal resellers. Among them, 53 were referred to the prosecution and 16 were criminally charged."

By type of crime, the breakdown is as follows: ▲ 11 individuals involved in price collusion using internet communities, ▲ 22 individuals involved in fraudulent apartment subscriptions exploiting special supply for multi-child families and disabled persons, ▲ 12 individuals involved in illegal resale of pre-sale rights through forged documents, ▲ 35 individuals engaged in unlicensed or unregistered illegal brokerage activities.

Among the major cases uncovered, in an online open chat room called "A City Local Residents Group," which had about 300 participants, 12 brokerage offices repeatedly reported 46 legitimate listings advertised at prices below market value on internet real estate sites as false listings, colluding to obstruct the legitimate business activities of licensed real estate agents.

Some licensed real estate agents in A City formed social clubs and restricted new memberships, sharing brokerage targets only among members and refusing joint brokerage with non-members, thereby obstructing the business operations of non-member brokerage offices.

Meanwhile, apartment subscription broker Mr. B posted stickers reading "Multi-child Subscription Account Phone Consultation Welcome" on utility poles around Seongnam area, and introduced Mr. C, who contacted him after seeing the sticker, to broker Mr. D.

Broker Mr. D received all subscription application documents including subscription accounts and certified digital signatures from Mr. C, who has four children, paid Mr. B a referral fee of 10 million KRW, and paid Mr. C 55 million KRW as compensation for selling the subscription account. Subsequently, Mr. D illegally resold a pre-sale right won through the multi-child special supply at P Apartment during the resale prohibition period, earning an unfair profit of 80 million KRW.

Chief Kim emphasized, "Due to the recent surge in apartment prices, residents’ interest and concern about the real estate market are very high. We have completed investigations into fraudulent subscriptions such as false residence registrations targeting apartments with high subscription competition rates last year, and will focus on investigating illegal permit activities within land transaction permission zones such as the 3rd New Town. We will do our best to establish a fair real estate transaction market."

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