"Only Selected Highly Credible Individuals"... 57 Arrested for Embezzling 11.6 Billion Won Worth of Imported Cars Using Rent Business Bait

Vehicles used in loan scam crimes. [Image source=Busan Police Agency]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] A 10 billion won luxury imported car loan fraud scheme involving high credit rating individuals being exploited for loan crimes has been uncovered.

Busan Metropolitan Police Agency announced on the 22nd that they arrested 57 illegal rental offenders and 3 organizations that recruited 81 people by deceiving them with promises of guaranteeing profits and installment payments through rental businesses after purchasing luxury imported cars on loan by just lending their names, and detained 5 suspects.

The group embezzled 132 imported cars worth approximately 11.6 billion won and profited by distributing ghost cars.

According to the Violent Crime Investigation Unit of Busan Metropolitan Police Agency, over 2 years and 6 months, the 3 criminal organizations and their accomplices deceived people with high credit ratings by saying, "If you just lend your name, we will purchase luxury imported cars on loan, guarantee monthly profits and installment payments through rental business, and after 2 years, dispose of the vehicle and settle the loan principal."

The group deceived a total of 81 people and embezzled 132 luxury imported cars worth 11.6 billion won.

The police arrested 16 members of the 3 organizations and 41 illegal rental offenders, detaining 5 key leaders among them.

Crime Flowchart. [Image source=Busan Police Agency]

They divided roles such as investor recruiter, vehicle supplier, loan processor, vehicle disposer, and leader, and engaged in so-called ‘front room’ fraud by packaging accident cars or cheap imported cars with high mileage as normal vehicles, inflating the price by 20 to 40 million won above the actual price to get loans and pocketing the difference.

They used investor funds to cover previous debts and hid this by paying initial investors profits and installment payments normally for 6 to 10 months, using this as bait to attract more investors.

The police reportedly detected the crimes of these organizations while investigating corporate-type illegal rental companies involving organized crime gangs.

The police tracked the victim vehicles disposed of as ghost cars nationwide and seized 18 vehicles.

During the investigation, a recruiter in his 40s tried to escape the investigation by claiming he was also deceived and coaxed victims to jointly accuse the main suspect, but was confirmed and arrested.

A police official said, "Unauthorized private car rental is illegal. People who provide their names to easily make money end up bearing the loan principal and can be punished as accomplices to unauthorized rentals. We hope people will not be deceived by similar cases."

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