'Going Public Soon'... 58 Arrested in 19 Billion KRW Unlisted Stock Investment Fraud Case

14 People Including Organization Leader Arrested

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Jo] A gang that deceived people by claiming that unlisted stocks would be listed within months and swindled a huge amount of 20 billion KRW has been arrested by the police.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Financial Crime Investigation Unit announced on the 30th that it arrested 58 people including Mr. A on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act, fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, and organizing a criminal group, and detained 14 of them. Mr. A and others are suspected of selling 1.6 million unlisted shares to a total of 1,248 people from January to December last year, falsely claiming that the listing was confirmed without obtaining a financial investment business license. The police stated that the amount swindled through this method reached 19.3 billion KRW.

It was investigated that Mr. A and others organized a criminal group with a command structure for the purpose of unlisted stock fraud and divided the work among themselves. They then used dummy bank accounts and phones, and fabricated false listing application approval documents to deceive the victims.

When numerous complaints were filed nationwide in March last year, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency designated the Financial Crime Investigation Unit as a "special investigation division for major cases" and merged all cases for investigation. Subsequently, through field inquiries and communication investigations, Mr. A and others were arrested one by one. During the arrest process, the police confiscated and preserved assets worth approximately 11.1 billion KRW, including real estate and vehicles acquired with criminal proceeds, before prosecution.

A Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency official stated, "We plan to actively support the stabilization of the people's economy by expanding investigations into financial crimes that harm the economy of ordinary citizens and disrupt the order of the capital market through organized crimes, and strictly punishing them."

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