40,000% Annual Interest and Threats to Send to Entertainment Venue... They Mocked Victims When Threatened with Police

A group that provided illegal high-interest loans to some 600 ordinary citizens in urgent need of cash and threatened debtors has been caught by the police.

The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency announced today (August 27) that it has detained two individuals, including a man in his 30s surnamed A, who is the ringleader of an illegal private lending organization, on charges of forming, joining, and participating in a criminal organization, as well as violations of the Lending Business Act and the Act on Collection of Claims. Twenty other men and women in their 20s to 50s, including withdrawers and consultants, have been booked without detention.

A and his accomplices are accused of illegally lending 870 million won across 2,139 transactions to 613 people at high interest rates exceeding the legal interest rate (20% per annum) between November 2024 and February of this year.

It was found that the group amassed illegal profits amounting to 870 million won by charging exorbitant interest rates ranging from 32% to 41,192% per annum.

According to the investigation, A and his accomplices collected the phone numbers of loan applicants who contacted them after seeing advertisements on loan brokerage platforms, and then approached victims using so-called burner phones while pretending to be a different lending company.

The investigation revealed that the group organized a syndicate with assigned roles such as ringleader, consultant, deliverer, and withdrawer, committing crimes using burner phones, burner accounts, and virtual private networks (VPNs).

Some members of the gang even contacted the families of female debtors who failed to repay their loans on time, demanding proxy repayment while threatening, "We will do whatever we want, whether it is raping them or selling them off to an entertainment establishment."

Furthermore, they mocked victims who attempted to report them to the police, saying, "Do you think I will be scared?" and even argued to responding police officers, "I haven't received my money, so how do you expect me to just sit back and do nothing?"

Upon arresting A's gang, the police froze approximately 460 million won worth of assets, including financial assets and real estate, out of their criminal proceeds through pre-indictment seizure and preservation.

The police also assisted a female victim in her 30s who attempted suicide due to threats from A's gang by supporting her through debt adjustment programs by the Credit Counseling & Recovery Service.

A police official advised, "When conducting non-face-to-face online loan transactions through loan brokerage platforms, please check to ensure the company matches the advertisement and exercise special caution."

(Photo provided by Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.