Prosecutors Plan Arrest and Investigation for 'Empty Can Jeonse Fraud' Targeting Ordinary Citizens and Youths

‘Jeonse Deposit Fraud’ Victimization Spreads... Increase in Deposit Recycling Cases
Support for Damage Recovery through ‘Hidden Asset Tracking’... Plans for Active Appeals

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] The prosecution has decided to take a strict stance, including principle-based detention investigations, against jeonse deposit fraud crimes that cause hardship to ordinary citizens, considering the extent of the damage.

The Criminal Division of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Hwang Byung-joo) instructed all district prosecutors' offices nationwide on the 11th to, in principle, conduct detention investigations when the deception methods are planned and active, and to focus on measures such as supporting damage recovery through tracking hidden assets.

According to HUG (Housing and Urban Guarantee Corporation) and SGI (Seoul Guarantee Insurance), there were 8,130 cases of unreturned jeonse deposits reported from 2019 to August last year, amounting to approximately 1.6 trillion KRW. Among these, 89% involved jeonse deposits of 300 million KRW or less, with increasing damage to young people in their 20s and 30s and ordinary citizens.

The prosecution has been investigating various types of jeonse fraud cases, including so-called ‘Kkangtong Jeonse’ where the lease deposit is set higher than the building acquisition price, cases where the ‘registered transaction amount’ was inflated to set a lease deposit higher than the actual transaction price, cases of deceiving ‘rights relations’ such as jeonse and monthly rent contract status, and cases of ‘deposit rollover’ fraud.

In particular, the recent ‘Three Mothers Jeonse Fraud’ case prosecuted by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office involved 136 confirmed victims and damages amounting to about 29.8 billion KRW, showing an increase in damage caused by so-called Kkangtong Jeonse.

Jeonse deposit fraud mainly occurs targeting villas (multi-family and multi-unit houses), which are representative residential areas for ordinary citizens. Victims are mostly ordinary citizens and young people in their 20s and 30s, and they suffer irreparable damage by losing their jeonse deposits, which are practically all their assets, and their homes, which are their living spaces.

Accordingly, the prosecution plans to impose strict punishments to prevent the spread of jeonse deposit fraud damage in the fluid housing market situation.

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