South Korean Police Bust Illegal Lending Network: 202 Arrested, 8 Detained, Rates Up to 36,500% a Year as 200,000 Won Borrowed Demanded 400,000 Back the Same Day
South Korea's Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency announced on November 11 that police had broken up an illegal lending network, arresting 202 people and referring them to prosecutors, with eight of them, including the heads of six criminal organizations, placed in detention. Police said the network made illegal loans to more than 8,000 ordinary people and vulnerable borrowers, charging interest equivalent to as much as 36,500 percent a year.
Police said that from January 2022 to August 2026, operating without a registered lending business, the suspects made 33,348 loans totaling 28.5 billion won to 8,049 people in Seoul, Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Daegu, Busan and elsewhere, taking 22.6 billion won in interest alone as illegal profit. The 202 people arrested include 59 illegal lending operators, one dealer in personal information and 142 illegally registered lending-business operators.
According to the police investigation, the network first bought personal information through channels such as Telegram, then approached people in urgent need of money with offers of small, short-term, non-face-to-face loans. Once a borrower fell behind, the network charged an extension fee of 50,000 to 60,000 won a day or a late fee of 10,000 won an hour, equivalent to an annual rate of up to 36,500 percent, the level of demanding 400,000 won back the same day on a 200,000 won loan. Borrowers who could not pay were induced to borrow again from another company under the same organization to repay the old debt, and collectors threatened them using family contact details they held. South Korean media reported that one victim borrowed about 600 million won over time and paid about 800 million won in interest alone.
In their searches, police seized 160 million won in cash, four luxury watches worth about 30 million won, nine pieces of precious metal worth about 17 million won, and 121 electronic devices including mobile phones and computers, and applied for pre-indictment preservation for confiscation of 16.4 billion won in criminal proceeds held by 36 suspects. Police said the arrests were made one after another after an investigation conducted together with the illegal-finance victim support team of the Gyeonggi Welfare Foundation.
(Source: Yonhap News Agency)
Source: Yonhap News Agency
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：韩国警察（资料图）。照片：hojusaram，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: South Korean police officers (file photo). Photo by hojusaram, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
