Group Sentenced to Prison for Running Tax Consulting Scam with Fake Signboard

A group that swindled over 500 million won under the guise of "tax-saving consulting" while posing as certified tax accountants has been sentenced to prison.

The Incheon District Court sentenced a man in his 30s, identified as A, the leader of the criminal organization, to six years in prison on charges including forming and operating a criminal organization and violating the Certified Tax Accountant Act.

Three other members, including B, were sentenced to 1 year and 6 months to 2 years in prison suspended with three years of probation, while another member received a 1-year-and-2-month prison term on the same charges.

Group A and his accomplices were indicted for setting up call center offices in areas such as Geumcheon-gu, Seoul, and stealing approximately 560 million won from 21 victims between May of last year and March of this year.

Investigations revealed that when victims contacted them after seeing internet advertisements, the defendants posed as tax accountants and deceived them by promising to "reduce capital gains tax by 20 percent," subsequently demanding consulting fees and contract deposits.

Group A's ring exploited the loophole that it takes at least three months or more for the National Tax Service or the regional tax office to receive fake tax invoices and initiate an investigation.

The ringleader A trained the members by providing conversation scripts, while call center employees such as B pocketed monthly incentives of 2 million won in exchange for deceiving victims.

It was revealed that they even hung fake signboards and created a fraudulent website to make it look like a legitimate tax corporation office.

The court explained, "The defendants bear heavy culpability given that this crime caused numerous unspecified victims, the scale of the damage is large, and the social harm caused by the nature of the crime is very severe."

"Although ringleader A spearheaded the crime, he consistently offered incomprehensible excuses and denied the charges, making strict punishment inevitable," the court added regarding the sentencing reasons, while noting that "the rest of the defendants admitted to most of their crimes and did not play leading roles."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.