Changed Phone, Lost 390 Million Won... Agency Staff Arrested for Loan Fraud

Haeundae Police Station.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] A loan fraud scheme exploiting mobile phone customer information has been uncovered again.

An employee of a mobile phone store who extracted the card PIN of elderly customers coming to activate mobile phones and took out loans worth hundreds of millions of won using the phones has been arrested.

This month alone, two dealership employees in Busan have been arrested for similar methods. Although victims suffered loan damages without their knowledge, those whose card information was stolen have not been compensated.

On the 16th, the Busan Haeundae Police Station announced that they arrested a man in his 20s, Mr. A, on charges of computer and other usage fraud.

According to the police, Mr. A operated a mobile phone dealership in Haeundae-gu, Busan, from January to October and stole customers' IDs and other information who came to activate mobile phones.

Mr. A visited victims' homes, using discounts on fees as bait to obtain IDs and credit card information, then applied for non-face-to-face loans under the customers' names. He is accused of embezzling a total of 388 million won over 83 instances.

Most victims were elderly people in their 60s to 80s, and Mr. A targeted the elderly who have difficulty using the internet or smartphones, according to investigations.

The police arrested Mr. A after he voluntarily surrendered at the Haeundae Police Station and are verifying additional criminal facts.

The police plan to recommend improvements to the non-face-to-face loan application system, such as video call biometric verification.

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