23 Suspects Arrested in 400 Billion Won Ponzi Scheme... 5 Detained

Pre-Indictment Seizure Preservation for Real Estate and Foreign Cars

A group that committed a 'Ponzi scheme' by guaranteeing principal and profits to thousands of people and receiving 409.2 billion won in investment funds was arrested by the police.

On the 2nd, the Gangnam Police Station in Seoul announced that they had arrested 23 suspects on charges including violation of the Act on the Regulation of Conducting Fund-Raising Business without Permission and fraud, and detained five of them. Six main perpetrators were charged with organizing a criminal group, and pre-indictment seizure and preservation measures were requested for real estate and imported luxury cars.

After the initial complaint was filed in December last year, the police prohibited two key suspects from leaving the country and secured statements from about 150 victims. They conducted searches and seizures of the company’s offices, vehicles, and factories, and confiscated the main suspects’ mobile phones.

They promoted a health functional food business made from the raw material Fulvic Acid, promising to return the principal plus 300% profit. However, it was revealed that the raw material was an agricultural liquid fertilizer not approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for food consumption. They paid dividends to earlier investors using money from later investors, and when no new investors appeared, they failed to pay dividends.

A police official said, “If someone recommends investment in an unfamiliar business field guaranteeing principal and high returns, or promises additional rewards for attracting investment funds through a multi-level organization, it is highly likely to be fraud or a similar fund-raising crime.”

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