Police Suddenly Launch Investigation into 'Tour2000' Business Suspension

CEO A charged with fraud, police launch investigation
28 victims file complaints... number expected to rise

The police have launched an investigation into the CEO of the travel agency 'Tour 2000,' who suddenly ceased operations and disappeared.

According to a report compiled by Asia Economy on the 10th, the Gangnam Police Station in Seoul announced that they have booked Mr. A, a man in his 60s and the CEO of Tour 2000, on charges of fraud and are currently investigating. Until the previous day, the police had received complaints from 28 victims. The total amount of damages reported to the police so far is 79 million KRW.

Tour 2000 has been out of business since around the 1st of last month. According to the victims, on January 31st at around 7 p.m., one day before the business suspension, Tour 2000 sent a text message to customers who had purchased travel packages stating, "Due to circumstances, it is difficult to proceed with all travel package events, so a blanket cancellation will be processed."

On the 2nd of last month, I visited the Tour2000 office in Jung-gu, Seoul. The office lights were off, and the door was firmly closed.
Photo by Seoyul Hwang chestnut@

Consumers who received the sudden notification tried to call the company to understand the situation but could not reach anyone. Some customers even visited the travel agency in person. A travel package reserver who met in front of the Tour 2000 headquarters on the day after the business suspension, February 2nd, said, "I paid a total deposit of 4,798,000 KRW" and added, "I came because they did not answer the phone."

There are still victims who have not filed complaints, so the scale of the damage is expected to increase. Mr. Park, who booked a travel package to Western Europe and has not received a refund of his 2.1 million KRW deposit, said, "I plan to file a complaint" and added, "It is frustrating that the situation is progressing without any explanation or action." Other victims have gathered in an open KakaoTalk chat room to share updates on the filing of complaints and related matters.

Shopping platforms such as GS Home Shopping, 11st, Gmarket, and Naver have stopped selling related travel packages and have begun cancellation and refund procedures following Tour 2000's business suspension. A GS Home Shopping official stated, "About 85% of customers who purchased products have been refunded, and we are verifying customer information to proceed with refunds for the remaining cases." 11st, Naver, and Gmarket also prohibited sales of the products at that time and contacted customers to process refunds.

In the absence of refund measures from the headquarters, the only compensation option is to receive coverage from the Korea Association of Travel Agents' mutual aid fund, which requires the travel agency to file a business closure report. However, no closure report has yet been submitted to the Jung-gu Office in Seoul. A Jung-gu Office official explained the situation, saying, "No business closure report has been received," and added, "We visited the headquarters to check the business status, but the doors remained closed."

Asia Economy made several attempts to contact Tour 2000 and Mr. A to hear their side of the story but was unable to reach them.

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