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 Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@
[Asia Economy Reporter Donghoon Jeong] Users of the prepaid discount service "Merge Point," which experienced a large-scale refund suspension incident, have filed a complaint with the police against Merge Plus's CEO and others.
Kang Dongwon, a lawyer from the law firm Justice representing 148 users, announced on the 28th, "On the 24th of this month, we filed a complaint with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency against CEO Kwon Namhee (37) and her younger brother and co-founder Kwon Bogun (34) on charges of fraud."
Lawyer Kang stated, "The total damage amount claimed by the complainants is about 200 million KRW," adding, "We plan to file additional complaints as more victims come forward, and currently about 300 people have gathered." The users who filed the complaint with the police also filed a civil lawsuit at the Seoul Central District Court on the 17th, claiming damages of about 200 million KRW.
Merge Point is a payment service that promoted "unlimited 20% discount." Until recently, it had one million users. It was reported that transactions amounted to 30 to 40 billion KRW monthly. On the 11th of last month, when Merge Plus suddenly announced the suspension of point sales and reduction of usage locations, a controversy over "Muk-twi" (a term for a scam involving sudden disappearance after collecting money) erupted, leading to a flood of refund demands from users.
As the controversy spread, the Financial Supervisory Service requested an investigation by the police, and the Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency booked CEO Kwon, Kwon, and Director Kwon Kanghyun (64) (former Executive Vice President of Samsung Electronics) on charges of violating the Electronic Financial Transactions Act and imposed a travel ban.
The police conducted raids on five locations, including Merge Plus headquarters in Yeongdeungpo-gu and the payment agency, securing related materials.
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