Borrowed 200,000 Won Turns into 700 Million Won... Illegal Private Loans Scarier Than Movies

Threatened to pay extra interest even after repaying loan
"Victims must be protected and illegal private loans thoroughly investigated"

Illegal private loan shark organization members who repeatedly threatened people with murderous interest rates of up to 5000% targeting those who find it difficult to obtain institutional loans were recently arrested in large numbers. Victim A said, "By the time I came to my senses, it was already a situation where I couldn't turn things around."

The initial amount A borrowed was 200,000 won. After a week, an hourly late fee was added, and the total repayment amount rose to 350,000 won, with interest increasing steadily.

When A said it was difficult to repay the money, they were told to borrow from somewhere else and were introduced to another place. This is where the so-called loan rollover began to repay the interest. However, it turned out that these referral companies were also run by the same organization members.

In an interview with CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' on the 15th, A said, "After dealing with them for a long time, I realized they were the same people from the same company." As the rollover repeated, the borrowed amount reached 300 million won, and adding about 400 million won in interest, A ended up with a total debt of over 700 million won.

If the money was not repaid by the due date, they had to endure threats using personal information of family members or coworkers. The personal information of family and acquaintances submitted at the time of the loan became a means of intimidation. Parents who had given birth to children were sent baby photos with murder threats, women were asked for nude photos, and multiple organization members took turns making dozens of abusive phone calls, resulting in habitual threats so severe that normal daily life became impossible.

A said, "All night long, abusive text messages and KakaoTalk messages kept coming. Swearing was natural, and messages like 'You can't sleep without paying back the money,' 'I'm going to kill the child in the hospital' came," adding, "A person becomes a zombie except for breathing."

Even after completing the loan repayment, they could not escape the shackles of debt. The organization members continued to extort money by threatening with additional interest or late fees. When the initial 250,000 won borrowed ballooned to 130 million won after four months, there was a case of a victim in their 20s who attempted suicide unable to endure the collection.

The organization continued its crimes using a 'cell organization' and 'organized false confession' method. They conducted transactions solely through phone calls, text messages, and KakaoTalk messages using non-face-to-face methods. When the investigation tightened, they paid lower-level members, hired lawyers, and had them make false confessions, allowing the organization to continue its crimes.

There was also a code of conduct within the organization. They parked stolen cars 2 km away from their residences and always traveled on foot, never used public Wi-Fi, and so on. Lieutenant Lee Jung-man of the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency's Violent Crime Investigation Unit said in a CBS interview, "As the organization expanded, they held training camps to facilitate organization management and evade police tracking."

Lieutenant Lee advised to prevent illegal debt collection damage, "If you need a small urgent loan, first check whether you can use the government's minimum credit special guarantee or the policy financial products of the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency."

He also said, "If you have no choice but to use internet non-face-to-face loans, it will help to check on the Financial Supervisory Service or the Financial Consumer Information Portal Fine site whether the lender is registered, and whether the advertised phone number matches the actual phone number to filter out illegal lenders."

He emphasized, "If the loan company does not follow normal loan procedures and demands personal contact information of family and acquaintances, suspect illegal debt collection."

Seung Jae-hyun, senior research fellow at the Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice Policy, also stressed, "According to the Interest Rate Restriction Act, interest rates exceeding 20% are invalid," and "If someone threatens you, report it to 112 or the Financial Supervisory Service."

In an interview with YTN's 'News Rider' on the 14th, Senior Research Fellow Seung said, "The scary thing is that these organizations are becoming cell organizations. There are more than just one or two such places," urging the police to conduct a full investigation of illegal private financing.

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