"Drunken Customer's Card Charged 3.43 Million Won for Drinks"... Revealed as Habitual 'Overcharging'

Employee: "Owner sometimes charges more than cost even normally"

A man in his 40s, the owner of a nightlife bar, was fined for overcharging a heavily intoxicated customer who came alone.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Wooseok] A man in his 40s who overcharged a heavily intoxicated customer who came alone to a nightlife bar, so-called 'bar overcharging,' was sentenced to a fine.

The Chuncheon District Court Criminal Division 2 (Presiding Judge Park Jinyoung) on the 29th sentenced A (41), who was indicted on quasi-fraud charges, to a fine of 2 million won.

A, the owner of a nightlife bar in Hongcheon, Gangwon, charged customer B (62) approximately 1.33 million won by credit card on the morning of September 6, 2020, when B was heavily intoxicated, which was more than the actual alcohol price of 860,000 won. Subsequently, additional payments of 2 million won and 100,000 won were made, totaling about 3.43 million won in three transactions.

Accordingly, A was indicted on charges of obtaining financial gain by exploiting B’s intoxicated mental and physical state.

During the trial, A claimed that victim B was not in a state lacking decision-making ability at the time of payment, but the court did not accept this.

C, an employee of the nightlife bar, appeared as a witness in court and testified, "It is true that the payment was made knowing the victim was heavily intoxicated and unable to make proper judgments," and "Since the defendant manages all the bookkeeping, I understand that he charges slightly more than the listed price."

The court stated the sentencing rationale, "The defendant committed the crime by exploiting the victim’s mental and physical impairment due to heavy intoxication," and "Considering the victim’s condition at the time, the additional provision of alcoholic beverages constitutes an inducement exploiting the victim’s intoxicated mental and physical impairment."

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