3 Years Since the Launch of Gyeonggi Special Judicial Police... 2,402 Perpetrators of Unfair Crimes 'Caught'

Illegal Flyers

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The Gyeonggi Province Fair Special Judicial Police Unit will mark its third anniversary on the 1st of next month.

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 30th that under the direction of Governor Lee Jae-myung, the province's Fair Special Judicial Police Unit was newly established by separating it from the existing Special Judicial Police Unit on October 1, 2018, to strengthen investigations into crimes related to the people's economy such as illegal private loans and real estate corruption. The unit will celebrate its third anniversary on the 1st of next month.

Since its launch, the Fair Special Judicial Police Unit has investigated 15 fields (21 laws) including illegal lenders and violators of real estate transaction order, uncovering a total of 2,402 offenders: 696 in 2019, 1,376 in 2020, and 330 as of September 15, 2021. Among them, 836 were sent to the prosecution, and investigations are ongoing for 209 individuals.

The greatest achievement of the Fair Special Judicial Police Unit is the investigation of economic crimes affecting residents' daily lives, such as illegal lending.

In response to the spread of illegal private loans targeting socially vulnerable low-income groups due to the economic downturn and prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, the unit has closely cooperated with the police and others to uncover a total of 174 violators of related laws, including unregistered lending businesses and illegal high-interest lending, and sent 125 of them to the prosecution over the past three years.

Notably, from January to March last year, the unit achieved success in arresting the "Hwanggeum Daebu" lending organization, which engaged in illegal lending with an exorbitant interest rate of up to 31,000%. The number of victims related to this case reached approximately 3,600, with the scale of loans and repayments amounting to 3.5 billion KRW. Additionally, since January 2019, the unit introduced a system to block illegal loan advertisement calls, blocking or suspending a total of 5,474 illegal advertisement phone numbers.

Furthermore, to reduce the financial burden on low-income and low-credit vulnerable groups who find it difficult to use formal financial services and to eradicate illegal private loans, the unit proposed amendments to the "Loan Business Act" to the National Assembly and the Financial Services Commission. In July, the government announced a revision to the enforcement decree of the Loan Business Act, lowering the statutory maximum interest rate from 24% to 20% per annum. The Fair Special Judicial Police Unit has additionally proposed stronger measures, including further lowering the statutory maximum interest rate from 20% to 10% per annum and invalidating all loan contracts with interest rates exceeding 20% per annum.

Another achievement of the Fair Special Judicial Police Unit is the investigation of illegal activities to eradicate unearned income from real estate.

Provincial Resident Reporting Center

To fundamentally block unearned income from real estate, the unit established a dedicated real estate investigation team in April 2019. Through intensive investigations into unauthorized and unregistered real estate brokerage activities, excessive brokerage fees, fraudulent subscription and illegal resale of pre-sale rights for unjust gains, and illegal speculation within land transaction permission zones, the team uncovered over 1,600 offenders and sent 346 of them to the prosecution. This performance is the largest among local government special judicial police units nationwide.

Major cases include a planned investigation from August to October last year that uncovered 232 apartment fraudulent subscribers who conspired with disabled persons to win special supply allocations and then illegally resold them. From March to May this year, the unit also arrested 178 planned real estate operators and speculators who acquired unearned income of 143.4 billion KRW by purchasing land under relatives' names and splitting shares to gain unfair profits.

The unit has also expanded investigations into social welfare corruption to ensure a clean welfare environment.

Investigating illegal acts such as hiring fictitious workers or using profits from revenue-generating projects for purposes other than corporate or facility operations, the unit has uncovered 38 offenders and sent 26 to the prosecution so far.

Especially since January this year, the unit has expanded investigative cooperation by discovering cases with related social welfare organizations and has strengthened joint on-site inspections with city and county governments since April, focusing on covert social welfare corruption investigations.

The Fair Special Judicial Police Unit is also strengthening on-site investigations to enhance crime response capabilities.

In April last year, the unit opened the "Resident Reporting Center" on the second floor of Suwon Station to make it easier for residents to report various unfair acts. The center has handled a total of 245 consultations related to illegal private loans and real estate crimes. Additionally, through investigations into proxy purchases of harmful substances for youth via social networking services (SNS), the unit uncovered 15 offenders.

Notably, the unit also uncovered 106 offenders involved in illegal private loans, illegal multi-level marketing, and illegal paid transportation through the "Mystery Shopping Investigation Technique," which involves undercover investigations disguised as employees.

Digital Forensic Device

Recognizing the evidentiary value of electronic information and the increasing risk of evidence destruction by criminals, the unit has operated a "Digital Forensic Center" within the provincial government building since 2019. Using digital forensic techniques to find clues from data on digital devices such as computers, mobile phones, and closed-circuit televisions (CCTV) seized from suspects, the unit analyzed 193 information storage media such as hard disks and actively utilized them to prove criminal charges.

In March last year, the unit also became the first local government nationwide to introduce the "Digital Certification Service," an advanced forensic system from the National Forensic Service. This service allows investigators at the scene to use a smartphone app to capture videos, audio, and photos and send key information of these files to a certification server at the National Forensic Service to verify the integrity of the files.

Kim Young-soo, head of the Gyeonggi Province Fair Special Judicial Police Unit, said, "Over the past three years, we have laid the foundation for the newly established Fair Special Judicial Police Unit and focused on establishing investigation manuals and systems for our jurisdiction, including illegal private loans. Moving forward, we will strengthen advanced scientific investigations such as digital forensic techniques and enhance proactive investigations into unfair acts related to residents' daily life crimes and social issues, making the organization capable of responding swiftly to rapidly changing times."

The legal scope of investigative duties under the Judicial Police Duties Act for the Fair Special Judicial Police Unit covers 21 laws, including the Loan Business Act, Door-to-Door Sales Act, Real Estate Transaction Reporting Act, and Petroleum Business Act. Including 87 laws under the Special Judicial Police Unit for People's Livelihood, the unit performs a total of 108 duties, the most among special judicial police units nationwide.

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