Gyeonggi Special Judicial Police to Intensify Crackdown on 'Illegal Private Loans' Until the End of This Year

Illegal Flyers

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province will conduct intensive crackdowns on illegal private loans until the end of this year.

The Gyeonggi Province Special Fair Judicial Police Unit announced on the 8th that, seeing that financially vulnerable groups such as small business owners facing economic difficulties could be exposed to economic crimes around Chuseok, they will carry out an 'intensive crackdown on illegal private loans' from this month until the end of the year.

The main investigation targets are ▲unregistered lending activities targeting socially and economically vulnerable groups such as low-credit individuals, small business owners, and housewives ▲lending activities exceeding the legal maximum interest rate both online and offline ▲false and exaggerated advertisements on online loan platforms ▲distribution of illegal loan advertisements around major commercial districts and traditional markets.

The special judicial police are particularly focusing on the increase in ultra-short-term high-interest loans targeting small business owners such as traditional market merchants, as loan screening by financial institutions has tightened.

In addition, to intensively investigate illegal lending and loan brokerage activities within increasingly sophisticated online loan platforms, a special online investigation team (12 members) led by the head of the Special Fair Judicial Police Unit has been formed.

The special investigation team will monitor internet loan brokerage sites and communities to strengthen investigations into online illegal private loans and advertisements targeting proxy deposits for minors.

Furthermore, a total of 183 personnel will be deployed, including 18 fixed-term workers belonging to the Special Fair Judicial Police for collecting flyers, 140 citizen monitoring group members, and 25 consumer safety keepers, focusing on urban areas where flyer distribution is frequent.

Together with them, the special judicial police plan to use the 'mystery shopping' investigation technique to collect illegal advertisement flyers, block and suspend the advertised phone numbers, and arrest distributors who indiscriminately distribute flyers on the spot.

In addition, to eradicate illegal private loans, the province plans to actively promote the 'Illegal Private Loan Damage Report Center,' which provides one-stop support from investigation to damage relief and recovery with a single report from residents.

Kim Ji-ye, Director of the Gyeonggi Province Fairness Bureau, emphasized, "As COVID-19 prolongs, there is concern that illegal private loans will spread targeting those in need of funds such as small business owners and low-credit citizens ahead of Chuseok. We will carry out comprehensive intensive crackdowns on illegal private loans until the end of the year to protect socially vulnerable groups and do our best to create a fair society."

Since October 2018, the province has established the Special Fair Judicial Police Unit to realize a "fair Gyeonggi without unfair and illegal acts," leading efforts to eradicate unregistered lending businesses, high-interest private loans, and protect economically vulnerable people.

Over the past three years, through planned investigations, 127 illegal lenders have been caught, and more than 530,000 illegal advertisements have been collected, among which over 4,780 phone numbers were blocked or suspended in cooperation with mobile carriers.

Major cases uncovered include ▲charging an annual interest rate of up to 31,000%, a "murderous high interest rate" ▲illegal loan brokerage activities targeting 1,358 members after opening an online loan cafe ▲illegal high-interest loans secured by corporate promissory notes worth over 10 billion KRW.

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