The Daegu Seongseo Police Station announced on September 22 that it has booked and forwarded a local district office public official, A, without detention on charges of violating the Act on Registration of Moneylending, Etc. and Protection of Financial Consumers after lending money to an acquaintance and extorting interest exceeding the legal limit.

According to police, A is accused of lending approximately 44 million won to an acquaintance, B, on multiple occasions from September 2023 to January of this year, applying an interest rate of 60 percent—which exceeds the legal maximum interest rate of 20 percent per annum—and extorting a total of 76.6 million won under the guise of principal and interest.

Investigations revealed that A lent money whenever B requested it without a separate promissory note, arbitrarily setting interest rates to collect payments.

A police official stated, "We will continue to strictly investigate crimes that exploit the psychology of ordinary citizens seeking to improve their economic conditions amid prolonged high inflation."

(Photo: Yonhap News)