Yoon: "Strict Crackdown on Used Car 'Fake Listings as Bait'"

Minister of Justice and Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Report Crackdown Status to Police Chief
President Yoon Urges, "Jeonse Fraud Targeting Youth Is a Malicious Crime... Request to Improve the System"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] President Yoon Seok-yeol instructed to "strictly crack down on fake bait advertisements for housing and used cars that cause distress to the common people and youth."

On the 16th, President Yoon received a report on the crackdown on jeonse fraud from Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong, and Commissioner of the National Police Agency Yoon Hee-geun, and said, "Since jeonse fraud is a vicious crime targeting the common people and youth, improve the system and thoroughly crack down," according to Lee Do-woon, spokesperson for the Presidential Office, on the 17th.

President Yoon has been consistently ordering strict crackdowns and countermeasures regarding the recent surge in jeonse fraud cases over the past few years, including the so-called Villa King case. According to the Housing and Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG), the amount of jeonse deposit guarantee accidents and subrogation payments has been increasing every year.

The accident amount increased from 344.2 billion won in 2019 to 468.2 billion won in 2020, and 579 billion won in 2021. Last year, the accident amount doubled compared to the previous year, exceeding 1 trillion won (1.1726 trillion won) for the first time. The subrogation payment amount also increased annually from 283.7 billion won in 2019 to 441.5 billion won in 2020, and 504 billion won in 2021, surging to 924.1 billion won last year.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In response, President Yoon declared at the 3rd Emergency Economic and Livelihood Meeting held on July 20 last year at a permanent rental housing complex in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, just two months after his inauguration, "Jeonse fraud targeting the precious deposits of the common people is rampant," and "Crimes threatening people's livelihood will be severely punished through strong investigations."

At the national task inspection meeting held live on December 15 last year, President Yoon also promised, "We will create a joint legal support task force (FT) with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Justice to provide legal support to these people (Villa King victims), and do our best to quickly obtain court registration orders so that they can enjoy the benefits of jeonse deposit return guarantees."

Investigations are also achieving results one after another. The prosecution indicted 145 people involved in jeonse fraud from July to December last year, and 46 of them were detained, the Ministry of Justice announced on the 2nd. A representative case involved an rental business operator who received rebates averaging 5 to 15 million won per property, purchased 283 properties without own capital, and defrauded tenants' deposits, who was detained and indicted, along with two real estate agents involved in the crime who were indicted without detention. In the future, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to share suspicious transactions confirmed by them and HUG guarantee accident data with the prosecution and police to investigate the masterminds based on comprehensive analysis.

Systems to protect tenants will also be strengthened. Recently, at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on the 14th, the "Partial Amendment Act and Partial Enforcement Decree of the Housing Lease Protection Act" to prevent empty jeonse and jeonse fraud were approved. The measures include allowing tenants to request senior priority deposit information or tax payment certificates from landlords before signing the jeonse contract, obligating landlords to provide them, and preparing measures to expedite registration of tenant rights.

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