[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] As the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) caused a 'mask shortage' phenomenon, crimes exploiting this situation surged. Judicial authorities have established a policy to severely punish such crimes, and those who committed the offenses ultimately faced the judgment of the law.
According to the legal community on the 5th, Judge Cho Guk-in of the Seoul Eastern District Court Criminal Division 9 single judge sentenced Jeong Mo (48), who was indicted for violating the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, to 1 year and 6 months in prison on the 2nd. Moon Mo (50) and Kwon Mo (41), who were indicted on the same charges, were sentenced to 1 year in prison with 2 years probation and 200 hours of community service, and 10 months in prison with 2 years probation and 160 hours of community service, respectively.
They were indicted on charges of purchasing 650,000 defective masks from a waste disposal contractor in February, conspiring with a packaging company to repackage them as normal products. Some of the repackaged masks were also supplied to a mask sales company.
It was investigated that the discarded masks they manufactured and sold amounted to about 52,000, but whether the distributed defective masks were recalled has not been confirmed.
Judge Cho explained the sentencing reason, saying, "The crime is grave as it exploited the severe situation where the supply of health masks became a social issue due to the mask crisis caused by COVID-19," and "considering that the defendants admitted the crime and showed remorse, and made efforts to prevent further damage by recalling some of the supplied discarded masks and disposing of them together with the stored discarded masks."
In Busan, where a mask shortage also occurred, a woman in her 30s who committed mask sales fraud on the internet was sentenced to prison. On the 2nd, Judge Lee Sung-eun, head judge of the Busan District Court Criminal Division 11 single judge, sentenced A (31) to 1 year and 6 months in prison for fraud.
A was indicted on charges of posting on social networking services (SNS) in February this year that KF94 masks were being sold at 2,600 won per piece and embezzling about 4.6 million won from victims over about 40 transactions.
Also, on the 1st, two Chinese members of a voice phishing organization who deceived victims by pretending to sell KF94 masks and extorted about 30 million won were sentenced to prison in the first trial. Judge Park Jung-gil of the Seoul Eastern District Court Criminal Division 11 single judge sentenced Hwang Mo (35) and Kang Mo (39), Chinese-Koreans indicted for fraud and violation of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, to 1 year and 6 months and 1 year in prison, respectively. He also ordered them to pay 1,122,000 won to two victims who filed compensation claims.
They were investigated to have participated in the voice phishing organization's fraud crime by posting items for sale on internet secondhand trading sites and only taking the payment. When other members posted KF94 mask sales on secondhand trading sites, they sent victims fake safe payment site addresses to receive purchase payments. It was investigated that they embezzled about 32.5 million won in March using this method.
Judge Park stated, "The defendants' guilt is serious as they exploited the national disaster situation caused by COVID-19 to participate in voice phishing under the pretext of mask purchase payments from unspecified many people," and "considering that the defendants are first-time offenders, are contactable, have compensated and reached agreements with all victims who wanted compensation."
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