"50,000 Won per Month for Naver Ads"... Advertising Company Executives Arrested for Extorting 700 Million Won from Small Business Owners

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] The representatives of a company who extorted hundreds of millions of won in fees from small and medium-sized business owners by promising Naver advertising services for 55,000 won per month were sentenced to prison in the first trial.

According to the court on the 3rd, Judge Park Jun-min of the Seoul Eastern District Court Criminal Division 4 sentenced two advertising agency representatives, charged with fraud and violation of the Specialized Credit Finance Act, to 3 years and 6 months and 3 years in prison respectively on the 30th of last month. Four other staff members who were also indicted received prison sentences of 8 months to 1 year with a 2-year probation, and one employee who joined last and had a lower degree of involvement was fined 10 million won.

They are accused of impersonating Naver advertising officials and public institution employees from April 2016 to August 2018, extorting advertising fees amounting to about 760 million won from over 700 small and medium-sized business owners.

They deceived victims by saying, "You have been selected as a government-supported company," and "If you do not make the payment immediately, the opportunity, which is only once per person, will be given to someone else," then falsely claimed, "With just 55,000 won per month, you can use Naver Powerlink advertising services worth over 10 million won monthly, and if the registered keywords are clicked during the contract period, your homepage will be displayed at the top of Naver Powerlink."

However, the company was unrelated to Naver, and most of the fees collected from the victims were used for employee salaries and allowances.

Judge Park stated, "During the investigation, they attempted to conceal evidence, and even after indictment, they completely denied the crime with absurd excuses, forcing numerous victims from all over the country to appear in court," adding, "They proposed to return the embezzled money, which should have been returned earlier, only years later on the condition of submitting a petition, causing secondary mental distress beyond financial damage."

He continued, "Such behavior obstructed the fair judicial process and caused enormous waste of judicial resources," and ruled, "Considering not only the nature of the crime but also the circumstances after the crime, especially strict punishment is necessary for the two representatives."

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