Gyeonggi-do's 3-Year 'War on Illegal Private Loans' Hurting Ordinary People...127 Cases 'Exposed'

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] It has been revealed that Gyeonggi Province conducted a large-scale investigation over three years from 2018 to 2020 into illegal private lenders who exploit ordinary citizens, uncovering and arresting 127 cases of violations of the Loan Business Act.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 22nd, the province officially began investigating illegal private financing by adding six fields including loan businesses to the scope of the Special Judicial Police Unit's duties on July 30, 2018, in cooperation with the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office.

Subsequently, in October 2018, the province strengthened investigations in economic sectors including illegal private financing by separating and establishing the Fair Special Judicial Police Unit within the Special Judicial Police.

Through about ten planned investigations, the province detected 66 cases of Loan Business Act violations from 2018 to 2019, 37 cases in 2020, and 24 cases as of May this year, totaling 127 cases. Among these, 78 cases were referred to the prosecution, and 20 cases are under investigation (internal inquiry).

In particular, the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police actively utilized the 'mystery shopping' investigation technique, where investigators pose as loan applicants to approach illegal lenders, as well as reports and tips during the investigation process.

Of the 127 cases, 66 were investigated using the mystery shopping technique, and 59 were investigated through reports and tips. In this regard, the province provides rewards to informants according to the revised 'Gyeonggi Province Public Interest Whistleblower Protection and Support Ordinance.'

Looking at specific arrest cases, the Special Judicial Police discovered loan advertisements posted on internet portal sites from January to March last year and approached them through mystery shopping. Through the investigation, nine members of the so-called 'Hwanggeum Daebu-pa' organization were caught; they engaged in illegal high-interest lending practices with rates as high as 31,000% targeting daily wage workers and small business owners who found it difficult to use formal financial institutions. The number of victims reached about 3,600, with loan amounts and repayments totaling approximately 3.5 billion KRW.

To eradicate illegal private financing, the province focused not only on strong crackdowns but also on collecting illegal advertisements and blocking illegal advertising phone calls.

Since January 2019, the province introduced an illegal advertising call blocking system and, in collaboration with mobile carriers, blocked or suspended the use of over 4,700 phone numbers.

This system works by entering the phone number listed on illegal loan business advertisements, warning the number of illegal business activities, and automatically making calls every 3 seconds to block the consumer's call itself. Additionally, the province collected over 530,000 illegal advertisements by visiting downtown areas and youth-dense regions to fundamentally prevent ordinary citizens from using illegal private financing.

On the 24th of last month, the province opened the 'Illegal Private Financing Damage Report Center.' The center operates a 'one-stop' system that supports investigation, damage relief, and recovery all at once with a single report from residents. It also runs a 'Visiting Illegal Private Financing Damage Counseling Office' targeting traditional markets and other places vulnerable to illegal private financing exposure.

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