'Large-scale Refund Crisis' MergePlus Incident Raided... Investigation Intensifies

Amid concerns over significant losses for many affiliated individual business owners, excluding large retail corporations prepared for compensation due to the massive refund crisis of the payment platform Merge Point, the headquarters of "Merge Point" in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on the 18th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] The police are intensifying their investigation by conducting a search and seizure at the headquarters of Merge Plus, which caused a large-scale refund incident.

According to the police on the 28th, the Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency executed search warrants at five locations, including the headquarters of Merge Plus, Merge Support, and payment agencies, suspected of violating the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, starting from 10:15 a.m. on the 25th. The search and seizure reportedly ended around 10:10 p.m., approximately 12 hours later. The police are said to have confiscated computer server data from Merge Plus.

On the same day, the police imposed travel bans on three individuals: Kwon Nam-hee, CEO of Merge Plus (37), Kwon Kang-hyun, director (64, former executive at Samsung Electronics), and Kwon Bo-gun (34), known as co-founders. They have been booked on charges of violating the Electronic Financial Transactions Act. Following a request for investigation from the Financial Supervisory Service, the police are examining allegations that Merge Plus conducted prepaid business without registration with relevant authorities. A police official stated, "Since the amount of damage is large and many victims have occurred, we will continue the investigation swiftly and strictly."

The National Police Agency recently received an investigation request from the Financial Supervisory Service regarding allegations of violations of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act by Merge Plus, the operator of Merge Point. On the 18th of this month, the National Police Agency delegated the case to the Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

Merge Plus attracted up to one million members by promoting an "unlimited 20% discount." On the 11th, Merge Plus abruptly announced the suspension of sales of cash-equivalent "Merge Money" and a reduction in its usage due to the financial authorities' request for electronic financial business registration. Since then, confusion has continued as users demanding refunds have flocked to the Merge Plus headquarters in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul.

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