Prosecutors Indict Group for Operating Illegal Gift Sites and Pocketing 5 Billion Won

Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] A criminal organization that operated an illegal futures investment site based in China for seven years and pocketed billions of won has been brought to trial.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office's Violent Crime Division (Chief Prosecutor Ji-ae Won) announced on the 19th that they arrested 40 people on charges including violation of the Capital Markets and Financial Investment Business Act. Among them, 13, including the ringleader Mr. A, were indicted in custody, and 8, including the operational manager Mr. B, were indicted without detention. The prosecutors also filed summary indictments against 14 others, including BJ Mr. C, who recruited members for the site.

According to the prosecution, Mr. A and others are accused of operating an illegal internet futures site without exchange approval from April 2014 to May of this year, earning approximately 5.3 billion won in illicit profits. Mr. C and others are charged with receiving commissions in exchange for recruiting members to the site.

They reportedly had a call center in China and lured victims by claiming that futures investments, which normally require a margin deposit of up to 30 million won, could be made with only about 300,000 won. Upon reviewing the customer list seized during a search, prosecutors found that they recruited as many as 10,000 members over three years from July 2014 to August 2017.

However, the futures site was essentially a gambling site with no actual transactions. Investigations revealed that they gained illicit profits through losses from members' virtual investments and commissions. During this process, they reportedly used BJs to induce losses or blocked access to the site for users who were making profits.

The investigation began in April 2018 after a user of the site submitted a petition. Through the investigation, prosecutors confirmed that violent gang members from the Daegu region were involved and led the crime. Among them, Mr. J, a site shareholder and head of the Chinese call center's finance team, was indicted in custody in September.

The prosecution stated that they have obtained a seizure and preservation order on 2.3 billion won of the criminal proceeds and are currently enforcing it. They also plan to request seizure and preservation for the remaining 3 billion won.

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