Evil Loan Shark Who Made Commoners Suffer Arrested... Seoul City Recovers Crime Proceeds Before Prosecution Through Asset Preservation

Malicious Loan Shark Causing Harm to Insurance and Delivery Workers Arrested
Extracted Excess Interest and Made Victims' Families Joint Guarantors, Causing Suffering
Nationwide Special Investigation Team Files Pre-Prosecution Seizure Request for 270 Million KRW Criminal Proceeds... Court Approves Decision

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government's Civil Affairs Judicial Police Unit recently tracked down and arrested Mr. A, who operated an illegal lending business and charged interest exceeding the legal interest rate (20% per annum) to 67 workers in insurance, delivery, and other sectors. They sent him to the prosecution and, during the investigation, initiated the recovery procedure for the criminal proceeds of 268 million KRW obtained from the excess interest. On the 26th, they announced that they received the court's approval for a seizure preservation order, marking the first time a special judicial police unit nationwide has obtained such a decision.

According to the Seoul Civil Affairs Judicial Police Unit, Mr. A, an illegal lender, had already been criminally punished twice for violating the Loan Business Act but continued unregistered lending activities. He was caught by the Seoul Civil Affairs Judicial Police Unit while illegally charging interest exceeding the legal rate to ordinary citizens.

Over the past eight years, Mr. A lent a total of 1.1 billion KRW to 67 workers in insurance, delivery, and other sectors through 200 transactions. Of the 380 million KRW interest collected, 268 million KRW exceeded the legal interest rate. While drafting IOUs with debtors, he arbitrarily required that family members of debtors, who were not present at the time of lending, be listed as joint guarantors. Furthermore, in cases of delinquency, he filed multiple lawsuits against family guarantors as defaulters, causing additional distress.

In particular, it was revealed that Mr. A verbally abused debtors severely when principal repayments were delayed or when they failed to repay the principal on the designated date, causing mental distress and sexual humiliation to the debtors.

Additionally, the Seoul Civil Affairs Judicial Police Unit applied for a pre-indictment seizure preservation order on the criminal proceeds from the malicious lender for the first time among special judicial police units nationwide and received court approval. Mr. A was ordered to preserve all 268 million KRW of interest collected in excess of the legal interest rate from workers in insurance, delivery, and other sectors over the past eight years. The assets subject to the seizure preservation order include the deposit for a leased office and amounts deposited into financial accounts under other people's names used for the illegal lending business.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to continue actively investigating and criminally punishing violations of the Loan Business Act, such as charging interest exceeding the legal rate or illegal advertising by unregistered lenders. Lending without registration or advertising lending businesses can result in imprisonment for up to five years or fines up to 50 million KRW, and charging interest exceeding the legal rate (20% per annum) can lead to imprisonment for up to three years or fines up to 30 million KRW.

Meanwhile, the Seoul Metropolitan Government emphasized that illegal private financing operations often use non-face-to-face methods such as phone calls and text messages, and frequently use burner phones and bank accounts, making identity verification difficult. Therefore, active reporting by citizens is necessary. Kim Myung-joo, head of the Civil Affairs Judicial Police Unit, stated, “The damage caused to citizens by illegal acts such as charging interest exceeding the legal rate by lending companies is very significant. We will continue to respond strictly and ask for active reports from victims and others.”

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