Woman in Her 30s Found Dead in Motel After Using New "Gift Certificate Loan Sharking" Scheme

Used "Gift Certificate Loan Sharking" Due to Financial Hardship
Borrowed 500,000 Won, Debt Soared to 15 Million Won in Just One Month

A woman in her 30s who had been struggling with debt was found dead in a motel in Seoul. It was revealed that she had used so-called "gift certificate loan sharking," an illegal loan scheme with extremely high interest rates.

According to the Dongdaemun Police Station in Seoul on May 18, a woman in her 30s, identified as Ms. A, was found dead in a motel in the Dongdaemun District on April 1. Based on their investigation at the scene, police found no evidence of foul play and classified the case as an unattended death.

Ms. A reportedly turned to "gift certificate loan sharking" for about a month, starting in March, due to a shortage of living expenses. This scheme involves lending cash and then requiring repayment with a much larger amount in the form of gift certificates after a certain period. Although it appears to be a regular gift certificate transaction, it is in fact a high-interest loan practice that far exceeds legal interest rate limits.

Initially, Ms. A borrowed about 500,000 won, but within a short period, she was burdened with interest amounting to nearly half of the principal. It is reported that, in an attempt to repay her debt, she was forced into taking out another gift certificate loan—a so-called "Ponzi-like rollover." Within just one month, the total principal and interest reportedly ballooned to 15 million won. When converted to an annual interest rate, this exceeds 2,000%.

During the debt collection process, Ms. A was reportedly harassed with dozens of calls per day, including verbal abuse and threats.

Meanwhile, the National Police Agency announced on May 14 that it had uncovered 1,284 cases of illegal private lending and apprehended 1,553 individuals over a six-month special crackdown from November last year to April this year. Of those, 51 were detained. Police stated that this crackdown uncovered numerous new and emerging types of illegal private finance crimes, including "gift certificate loan sharking" disguised as advance sales of gift certificates, "durable goods loans" in which borrowers lease electronics such as mobile phones and then resell them, and cases where the personal information of family members or acquaintances was used as collateral for illegal debt collection.

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