The CEO Disappeared and the 'Yeochin' Died, What Happened to the Company?

40s CEO absconds with tens of billions of won from job seekers in new 'wage claim' scam

After police investigation report, 30s girlfriend who also filed complaint presumed to have taken extreme action

Company advertisement misleading investors.
[Image source=Daewon Industrial Comprehensive Development website]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] The girlfriend (34) of a man in his 40s who disappeared after committing a new type of investment fraud (reported in the online edition on September 13) by gathering job seekers under the pretense of securing employment at a large corporation was found dead.

The police have launched an investigation to determine whether A, the girlfriend of the main fraudster, was also a victim of the investment scam.

The missing CEO had established a specialized construction manpower dispatch company and deceived job seekers by promising high-yield dividends of 50 million KRW per share. When police investigations began following complaints from victims, he disappeared.

According to the Busan Police Agency on the 15th, around 9 a.m., an acquaintance found A deceased in an apartment in Jwadong, Haeundae, and reported it to the police.

The police are analyzing the scene and suspect it was a case of suicide.

The deceased woman was identified as having been in a relationship with Kim, CEO of Daewon Industrial Comprehensive Development, who is wanted by the Busanjin Police Station as a financial fraud suspect, with plans to marry.

It is known that the woman lent Kim, who had disappeared, a large sum of money, and after Kim’s fraudulent activities were recently reported in the media, she also filed a complaint.

Kim, who established the corporation Daewon Industrial Comprehensive Development in Seomyeon, Busan, with a seemingly legitimate office last September, attracted funds by claiming to invest in manpower dispatch projects for top-tier large construction companies, promising high interest rates. When demands for principal repayment increased recently, he vanished.

The company posted advertisements for full-time employee recruitment on job search websites and, upon meeting job seekers, promised a monthly interest rate of 3%, or 36% annually, collecting investments ranging from 50 million KRW to 350 million KRW per person.

Kim and others published promotional articles in major daily newspapers and economic magazines, falsely claiming to have made development investments worth around 100 billion KRW, in an attempt to attract more investors and use the funds to pay high interest rates in a Ponzi-like scheme.

They disguised an illegal lending business, where money was lent to on-site workers and the company collected their wages while deducting fees, as a so-called ‘wage claim business,’ a seemingly legitimate new type of business.

Three executives also participated in recruiting investors for this company, but the police have found that they too suffered losses of over 1 billion KRW each to Kim.

The police have obtained financial account warrants to investigate the amount of damage. So far, 13 complaints have been filed with the police, with confirmed damages amounting to 1.7 billion KRW. Including the executives’ losses, the total damage is estimated to reach 5 billion KRW.

A representative from the Intelligent Crime Investigation Team of the Busanjin Police Station said, “Complaints continue to be filed, and the amount is expected to increase.”

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