[Asia Economy (Uijeongbu) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province is recruiting residents to participate in the 'Illegal Private Loan Citizen Monitoring Group,' which operates to eradicate illegal advertisements and establish a fair economic order for ordinary citizens, until the 8th of next month.
The Illegal Private Loan Citizen Monitoring Group is a project promoted by Gyeonggi Province since October last year during the 7th local government administration, aiming to prevent damage to financially vulnerable groups caused by illegal private loans and to eradicate illegal advertisements that cause inconvenience to residents, together with residents who are well acquainted with local conditions.
Through this project last year, the province collected 362,741 illegal private loan-related floating advertisements. Additionally, it collected a total of 1,930 phone numbers and suspended the use of 1,789 cases confirmed as unregistered lending companies.
This year, the monitoring group will not only collect and report floating advertisements (business card-type leaflets) randomly distributed on roads and other places but also expand its focus to illegal private loan advertising activities that lure financially vulnerable groups by impersonating public institutions' financial support policies for ordinary citizens, such as 'government-supported low-interest loans for ordinary citizens' and 'recruitment of beneficiaries for citizen financial support,' which are indiscriminately distributed online via social media (SNS) or blogs.
The province plans to conduct thorough investigations through the Special Judicial Police Unit on reported and received floating or online advertisements, and if illegality is confirmed, administrative measures will be taken, and a request will be made to the Ministry of Science and ICT to suspend the use of the phone numbers.
In particular, for illegal online advertisements, the province will request the Korea Communications Standards Commission to take measures such as advertisement deletion, service termination, and access blocking.
The selected monitoring members will receive online non-face-to-face training and will be active from October to December this year, receiving a basic activity fee of 50,000 KRW along with a performance reward for collection and reporting.
The performance reward for collection and reporting is 50 KRW per floating advertisement and 2,000 KRW per online advertisement, with a maximum monthly payment of up to 210,000 KRW.
In addition, an activity kit containing an advertisement collection bag, mask, hand sanitizer, and tongs will be provided.
Residents of Gyeonggi Province aged between 19 and under 70 who are interested in preventing illegal private loans and are capable of using the internet and performing simple document work can participate.
Residents wishing to participate can apply through the Gyeonggi Province Citizen Financial Welfare Support Center (gcfwc.ggwf.or.kr) Illegal Private Loan Damage Report Illegal Advertisement Collection Group recruitment page or via the Naver form (naver.me/xDY9juQ7).
Jo Jang-seok, head of the Small Business Division of the province, said, "This project aims to build a tight monitoring network through public-private cooperation so that illegal private loan advertisements cannot take root in Gyeonggi Province," adding, "We will continue to actively strive to eradicate illegal private loans and establish a fair economic order."
Meanwhile, residents who have suffered damage or witnessed cases of violations such as lending companies in the province operating above the legal maximum interest rate, illegal advertisements, or illegal debt collection can report to the Gyeonggi Province Citizen Financial Welfare Support Center (031-1899-6014) or the Financial Supervisory Service (1332).
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