[Report] Kwon Namhee, CEO of Muge Point who promised normalization plan... Silent when asked about refund schedule

One Week After Merge Incident... On-Site Security Staff Restrict Access
Signs Throughout Building State 'Offline Refund Applications Not Accepted'
Representative Kwon Silent When Asked "When Will Refunds Be Completed?"
Victims File Class Action Lawsuit, Financial Authorities Request Police and Prosecutor Investigation

Amid concerns over significant losses for many affiliated individual business owners, excluding large retail corporations prepared for compensation due to the massive refund crisis of the payment platform Merge Point, the headquarters of "Merge Point" in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on the 18th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

At 1 p.m. on the 17th, when the 3rd to 5th rounds of Merzi Point refund operations were completed, the office of Merzi Plus, the operator of Merzi Point located in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, was quiet. This was in stark contrast to a week ago when 200 to 300 Merzi Point victims visited daily to request refunds. Throughout the afternoon, only one consumer visited Merzi Plus. Even that person took a photo after seeing the notice stating that offline refunds were completely suspended and then left.

Refund Scale and Future Schedule 'No One Knows'

Notices posted around the external stairs and elevator entrances leading to the second-floor office were written by the company. The announcement stated that no offline refund applications would be accepted on-site and that offline refunds were absolutely not allowed according to Merzi Point policy. In particular, there was a warning saying, "If physical force is used to disrupt our operations after this time, firm measures will be unavoidable for the safety of our employees, so please refrain from threatening behavior."

Security personnel controlled access at the entrances to the 2nd and 4th floors where the office is located. On the 12th, victims had detained staff in the office out of concern that they might not receive their money back if employees left work. As posts certifying offline refunds spread and more consumers gathered, the company deployed security personnel. A security official at the site said, "Until yesterday, a few victims still came by occasionally, but no one visited today," adding, "No employees come to the office either."

However, it was confirmed that some employees, including CEO Kwon Nam-hee of Merzi Plus, came to the office that day. After victims stopped visiting due to the offline refund ban, they returned to the office to handle work. Around 5 p.m., when the CEO entered the company, security staff and employees were busy moving between the 2nd and 4th floors.

Around 8 p.m., CEO Kwon left the company without answering a reporter’s question about when the refund operations were expected to be completed. Initially, CEO Kwon had stated in media interviews that refunds could proceed normally and that "normalization is possible." Currently, it is known that CEO Kwon is visiting business partners and affiliates without fixed working hours to resolve the situation.

A Merzi Plus official explained, "Not all staff can come to work at once, so some employees take turns handling tasks." However, when asked about the refund scale or schedule, the official said, "Refund and normalization work is progressing smoothly," but added, "How would we know that?"

From Consumers to Financial Authorities, Moves Toward 'Legal Action'

Amid concerns over significant losses for many affiliated individual business owners, excluding large retail corporations prepared for compensation due to the massive refund crisis of the payment platform Merge Point, the headquarters of "Merge Point" in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on the 18th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

As CEO Kwon and the company have not disclosed specific refund schedules or amounts, concerns among Merzi Point consumers are inevitably growing. When Merzi Point announced the 2nd round of online refunds on the 14th, the next refund date (August 17) was announced. However, after the 6th online refund notice issued at 11 a.m. today, no future refund schedule has been confirmed.

Kim Sun-cheol (34, pseudonym), who reportedly deposited about 1.5 million won in Merzi Point, said, "They say refunds are happening little by little, but they don’t disclose how many people are refunded each day, which is frustrating," adding, "I’m worried the company might run away with the money." In fact, the Merzi Point victim community is flooded with posts like "There’s no way to know when it’s my turn," and "It feels like we’re lending money sitting down and receiving it standing up."

In response, consumers are preparing collective lawsuits and taking legal action. Currently, about 20 online communities are discussing countermeasures related to Merzi Point. The largest among them, with 40,000 members, is the "Merzi Point Fraud Refund Victims Lawsuit Compensation Community." A representative of this community stated in a notice that day, "We believe it is better to handle this rationally rather than demanding money recklessly," and added, "We are currently looking for law firms or lawyers to proceed with the Merzi Point lawsuit."

Financial authorities also requested investigations into Merzi Plus by prosecutors and police over the past weekend. Merzi Plus had promised to complete registration as a prepaid electronic payment business under the Electronic Financial Transactions Act by the end of this month but has yet to submit related documents. Formal registration requires submission of company financial statements and materials ensuring soundness and transparency. The authorities claim that investigation requests became unavoidable due to the company’s failure to respond despite repeated demands.

The Financial Supervisory Service plans to conduct its own fact-finding investigation. This is amid criticism that the financial authorities’ inadequate management worsened the damage. On the 16th, Jeong Eun-bo, head of the Financial Supervisory Service, convened a meeting and emphasized cooperating with related agencies to minimize user damage and to identify and inspect prepaid business operations to prevent recurrence of similar incidents.

Merzi Point started its service in January 2019, attracting users by offering a "20% discount service" at 20,000 affiliated stores nationwide. It accumulated 1 million registered users and issued Merzi Money worth over 100 billion won. The fact that it was an unregistered company with the government led to business downsizing and refund demand incidents.