Government Investigates 'Fraudulent Subscription' in Major Housing Complexes in First Half of Year... Criminal Penalties for Offenders

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Hyun-mi (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 24th that it will conduct a focused inspection on fraudulent subscription applications for major housing complexes sold in the metropolitan area and provinces during the first half of this year.

The Ministry plans to carry out on-site inspections of sales sites for one month starting from the 25th, and will proceed with investigations against those suspected of fraudulent subscription applications.

The inspection targets are housing complexes sold in the first half of the year that, according to the subscription market monitoring results conducted by the Korea Real Estate Board, are expected to have a high likelihood of fraudulent subscriptions.

The Ministry will focus on checking whether there were any fraudulent acts such as qualification transfers in special supply and fraudulent subscriptions due to false address registrations during this inspection.

The Ministry believes that there are many cases of illegal activities such as trading subscription savings accounts or false address registrations to meet priority supply requirements, especially in special supply where the winning probability is relatively high.

Han Seongsu, Director of the Housing Fund Division at the Ministry, emphasized, "We plan to strictly handle those who disrupt the housing supply order by canceling supply contracts, imposing criminal penalties, and restricting subscription qualifications in accordance with housing laws."

If illegal activities are detected, offenders may face imprisonment of up to three years or fines of up to 30 million KRW. If the amount equivalent to three times the unfair profit exceeds 30 million KRW, a fine of up to three times that profit will be imposed.

Director Han stated, "We will continue to actively strive to prevent damage to genuine demanders caused by illegal activities through continuous and strong inspections and system improvements."