"Closed but Signboard Still Up"... 429 Suspected Jeonse Fraud Real Estate Agents Detected

Special 3rd Inspection of Real Estate Agents Suspected of Jeonse Fraud
68 Police Investigation Requests and 188 Administrative Actions Taken

#. In Suyeong-gu, Busan, the signboard of real estate agent A's office was not removed after closure. Upon inspection, it was confirmed that real estate agent B, whose registration had been canceled, was operating using A's office name and representative business card. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport requested a police investigation, suspecting unregistered brokerage activities by A and B respectively, and the lending of registration certificates.

A view of a real estate agency office in Seoul. / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the 16th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that during the third special inspection targeting 2,615 real estate agents suspected of jeonse fraud, 483 violations by 429 individuals were detected.

This special inspection was conducted from November 20 to December 31 of last year. Among the 880 real estate agents found violating laws in the first and second inspections, 723 currently operating were re-included. The remaining 1,892 were suspicious agents in areas where jeonse fraud continued to occur. The Ministry explained that they focused on investigating violations of real estate brokerage laws during sales and lease contract brokerage processes.

Major violations included ▲ operating a brokerage office by lending another agent’s registration certificate after reporting closure ▲ charging brokerage fees exceeding the legal limit ▲ inducing "empty jeonse" contracts conspired by owners, real estate agents, brokerage assistants, and lessors.

The Ministry stated that, according to relevant laws, 68 of the detected violations were referred to the police for investigation, and 188 cases are undergoing administrative sanctions. Specifically, administrative sanctions include 1 qualification cancellation, 3 registration cancellations, 69 business suspensions, and 115 fines. For minor issues, warnings and corrections (227 cases) were issued on-site during inspections.

Park Sang-woo, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "Real estate agents involved in illegal activities will be strictly dealt with according to relevant laws," and added, "We will continue to promote improvements in real estate agent-related systems to create a safe brokerage transaction environment."

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