Jeju Autonomous Police Agency Arrests Four Suspects Operating Illegal Real Estate Offices Targeting Elderly

Religious Group Leader Defrauded Over 47 Million Won Through False Advertising and Overpriced Sales to 1,050 People in 5 Months

[Jeju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Chang-won] The Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Autonomous Police Unit announced on the 27th that they have arrested four individuals, including business owners, who operated so-called ‘Tteotdabang’ disguised as religious facilities and obtained unfair profits from the elderly and disabled.

They are accused of false and exaggerated advertising of products and selling them at prices inflated 2 to 5 times the cost, earning unfair profits worth approximately 470 million won from 1,050 people over five months.

The Autonomous Police Unit has applied for arrest warrants against two individuals, including the company representative, on charges of violating the ‘Pharmaceutical Affairs Act,’ the ‘Health Functional Foods Act,’ and the ‘Door-to-Door Sales Act,’ while the other two have been additionally booked and are under investigation.

The Autonomous Police Unit received reports that women and elderly people were suffering financial damages due to product sales by a specific company in Jeju City. After about six months of undercover surveillance and raids on sales sites, they arrested four individuals involved in the Tteotdabang operation.

According to the investigation, company representative Mr. A (60 years old) and sales manager Mr. B (43 years old) rented a sales space on the 5th floor of a building in Jeju City for six months from around October last year to March this year. They attracted elderly customers by offering daily necessities such as sugar and tissue as prizes and sold health functional foods like turmeric, deer antler velvet, and red ginseng.

They falsely and exaggeratedly advertised the products as effective for treating diabetes, cancer, and neuralgia, as if they had medical efficacy, and sold them at prices 2 to 5 times higher than market prices.

To promote product sales, they provided giveaways such as tissue, seaweed, and blankets through lottery events and continuously attracted customers by giving free coupons for daily necessities and prizes to those who brought acquaintances or revisited.

They also deceived consumers by pretending to sell products at much cheaper prices than market value by monopolizing the sales rights of a famous home shopping company.

Due to concerns about evidence destruction and repeat offenses, arrest warrants were requested.

The other two individuals, who managed bookkeeping and collections and acted as promoters encouraging customers to chant and applaud, have also been additionally booked and are under investigation.

In particular, they reportedly conducted so-called ‘hypnotic sales’ targeting elderly and disabled customers by playing lively music loudly inside the event venue and continuously encouraging customers to chant and applaud, thereby immersing them in purchasing products.

To avoid crackdowns or suspicion from the surroundings, they installed banners promoting religious organizations outside the building and decorated the interior of the event venue with various Buddhist statues and ritual items, falsely disguising it as an official religious propagation site.

Jeju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Chang-won baekok@asiae.co.kr

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