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A group has been apprehended by police for stealing the identities of hearing-impaired individuals to illegally secure dozens of apartments across the country through the special housing supply program for people with disabilities. They profited by reselling the apartments at higher prices, maintaining a 100% success rate in their applications.

Reporter Lee Se-hyeon has the story.

[Reporter]

Two people follow the guidance of a man and get into a car.

This is footage of a broker, identified as A, taking hearing-impaired individuals who agreed to lend their names for money to apply for apartment housing.

What they targeted was the special supply quota for people with disabilities. Broker A even successfully secured an apartment in Gangnam, Seoul, which had an overall competition rate of 84 to 1 for the special supply.

The 84-square-meter apartment was priced at 2.2 billion won in February of last year, and the asking price has now risen to 4 billion won.

[Local Real Estate Agent: It is a popular floor plan, after all. It is like winning the lottery.]

Over the past five years, broker A and his accomplices illegally obtained 30 apartments through the special supply program for the disabled in various regions, including Seoul and Busan.

Their application success rate was 100%. To increase their chances, they specifically targeted individuals with severe hearing impairments, paying them up to 20 million won to use their identities.

Police investigations revealed that most of the down payments were covered by loans taken out in the names of the hearing-impaired individuals, and the group resold the housing rights with premiums of up to 100 million won.

For apartment complexes where resale was restricted for a certain period, they waited until the restriction expired to resell the properties and pocket the profits.

[Park Da-jeong, Superintendent, Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency Anti-Corruption Crime Investigation Unit 2: To avoid detection, they personally accompanied the disabled individuals to apply for the housing, which made it difficult to uncover the scheme.]

The police have referred broker A, three recruiters, and 36 hearing-impaired individuals who lent their names to the prosecution on charges of violating the Housing Act. They have also requested the forfeiture and preservation of the housing rights owned by the suspects and 470 million won in criminal proceeds.

Reported by Lee Se-hyeon | Video edited by Jeong Yong-hwa | VJ: Kim Hyung-jin | Design: Park Tae-young | Footage courtesy of Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency