110 Business Owners and Workers Charged in Bulk for Alleged Subsidy Fraud

A total of 110 people, including company and nursing home representatives and workers, were referred to the prosecution on charges of fraudulently receiving government subsidies worth approximately 1.6 billion KRW.

Seoul Dongdaemun Police Station.

On the 21st, the Dongdaemun Police Station in Seoul announced that it had sent 110 people from 15 companies to the prosecution on charges including fraud, violation of the Subsidy Act, and Employment Insurance Act, following a focused crackdown on fraudulent receipt of government subsidies conducted from March to October. The police, in cooperation with the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office and the National Health Insurance Corporation, issued punitive recovery orders amounting to approximately 2.03 billion KRW, which is 2 to 5 times the amount of fraudulent subsidies, against some companies.

According to the police, fraudulent subsidy claims were mainly made in 'employment support funds,' 'disaster relief funds,' 'long-term care benefits for the elderly,' and 'vocational training support funds.' Businessman A conspired in advance with 32 people, including university and club juniors, to submit false employment contracts as if they were regular employees under the 'Youth Digital Job Project' organized by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. Through this, he fraudulently received about 400 million KRW by obtaining special youth employment incentives and submitting false employment insurance verification documents to receive unemployment benefits, which was detected.

[Image source=Dongdaemun Police Station]

Travel agency representative B aimed to receive employment retention support funds, which can be paid up to 80% of the maximum monthly salary. He submitted false leave of absence consent forms obtained from 13 employees who were working normally and was caught after fraudulently receiving 400 million KRW in employment retention support funds. Nursing home representative C registered false workers by borrowing nursing care certificates or falsely registered non-existent salary recipients, fraudulently receiving about 100 million KRW in long-term care benefits for the elderly. Additionally, IT company representative D registered as a vocational training instructor supported by the government, falsely applied for and attended his own lectures using IDs of affiliated workers collected in advance, and fraudulently received subsidies amounting to approximately 240 million KRW for the lecture fees.

A police official stated, "We plan to continue special crackdowns to eradicate fraudulent receipt of subsidies by strengthening cooperation with related ministries," and added, "If subsidies are fraudulently received, punitive return orders of up to five times the amount can be imposed, and even signing false leave or absence documents at the workplace or lending necessary business certificates can result in punishment as an accomplice to subsidy fraud."

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