Loan of 400,000 Won Turns into 700 Million... Gang Behind '5000% Killer Interest Rate' Caught

Engaging in High-Interest Loans Targeting Those in Urgent Need of Cash
Used for Crimes Involving Daepopon, Daepotongjang, and Daepo Vehicles

A gang that illegally lent high-interest loans to ordinary people and pocketed about 3 billion KRW in criminal proceeds was caught by the police.

Threatening messages sent by organization members
Photo by Gangwon Police Agency

According to a Yonhap News report on the 13th, the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency arrested 123 members of an illegal private loan crime organization known as the 'Gang Siljang Organization' and detained 10 key members on charges of organizing, joining, and participating in a criminal group.

From April 2021, they posted illegal loan advertisements on online loan brokerage platforms and provided small, short-term loans to those in urgent need of money, charging interest rates exceeding 5000%.

Furthermore, if the debt was not repaid within the deadline, they threatened debtors continuously by creating and distributing wanted posters using personal information of the debtor’s family and coworkers, which they had previously secured, and by making abusive phone calls.

Victim A borrowed 250,000 KRW from the organization and agreed to repay 440,000 KRW a few days later, but with a murderous interest rate exceeding 5000%, which is 250 times the legal interest rate of 20%, the amount he had to repay ballooned to 150 million KRW in just three months.

Another victim, B, borrowed 400,000 KRW and repaid 690 million KRW over about a year by rolling over debts, eventually attempting an extreme act due to family breakdown.

In addition, the organization continued to threaten victims who had completed loan repayments by demanding additional interest or late fees, and frequently made sexually violent threats against female debtors.

Illegal Private Loan Crime Group Organization and Operation Structure
[Photo by Gangwon Police Agency]

The members of the organization divided their roles into fund management, loan consultation, and withdrawal and delivery of proceeds, using aliases, burner phones, fake bank accounts, and fake vehicles to carry out their crimes meticulously.

When the investigation tightened, they bribed lower-level members they had recruited in advance, hired lawyers, and falsely made them surrender, pretending they were the organization's leader.

They also coerced loan victims into providing burner phones, fake bank accounts, and fake vehicles under the pretext of debt forgiveness and interest offsetting, turning them into criminals.

The leader, 'Gang Siljang,' is known to have expanded the scale of the crime to about 100 billion KRW by forming the organization based on his past experience operating illegal lending businesses.

He lived in a high-end apartment in Seoul with a monthly rent of about 18 million KRW using massive criminal proceeds, drove luxury sports cars, and purchased luxury goods, posing as a self-made young entrepreneur.

Items seized by the police [Photo by Gangwon Police Agency]

Analyzing about 310 criminal bank accounts and 330 burner phones, the police who arrested the 'Gang Siljang Organization' seized 100 million KRW on-site and confiscated about 3 billion KRW in criminal proceeds.

The investigation confirmed that there were 131 victims in total.

A police official said, "We will continue to crack down on illegal private loan crimes that threaten peaceful daily lives by demanding exorbitant interest rates from ordinary people," and urged, "Please actively report if you suffer any damage."

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