Korea Customs Service Detects 849 Trade Economic Crimes Worth 3 Trillion Won in First Half of This Year

Company A was caught by customs authorities last February for fraudulently obtaining 3 billion KRW in government subsidies by falsely reporting the price of software exported to its overseas subsidiary at a high value (30,000 KRW → 3.2 billion KRW), and improperly attracting 11 billion KRW in investment funds from investors based on the fabricated export performance. Diagram illustrating Company A's process of fraudulently obtaining government subsidies and investment funds. Provided by the Korea Customs Service.

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korea Customs Service detected 849 cases of trade economic crimes in the first half of this year. The scale of the detected trade economic crime transactions reached 3 trillion won.

According to the Korea Customs Service on the 17th, among the detected trade economic crimes, foreign exchange offenses accounted for 47 cases with 2.0352 trillion won, making it the largest in terms of amount.

Also, customs evasion and smuggling offenses totaled 312 cases with 542.5 billion won; foreign trade offenses such as false labeling of origin disguised as domestic products amounted to 53 cases with 222.1 billion won; intellectual property rights offenses were 41 cases with 180.7 billion won; drug offenses were 372 cases with 25.2 billion won; and health offenses including illegal pharmaceuticals were 24 cases with 15.8 billion won, following in order.

The scale of detections in the first half of this year showed a characteristic where the number of cases decreased by 28% compared to the first half of last year (1,183 cases with 1.9 trillion won), while the amount increased by 60%. This is analyzed to be due to a decrease in small-quantity and individual smuggling, while large-scale cases such as foreign exchange and customs evasion increased.

Regarding the increase and decrease in amounts by detection type (compared to the first half of last year), intellectual property rights offenses increased from 74.1 billion won to 180.7 billion won (144%), customs offenses from 235.6 billion won to 542.5 billion won (130%), foreign exchange offenses from 1.1869 trillion won to 2.0352 trillion won (71%), foreign trade offenses from 155.9 billion won to 221.1 billion won (42%), while drug offenses decreased from 220.9 billion won to 25.2 billion won (86%), and health offenses from 18.4 billion won to 15.8 billion won (14%).

Yoon Tae-sik, Commissioner of the Korea Customs Service, said, “The Korea Customs Service plans to further strengthen crackdowns at customs borders to block illegal imports of goods harmful to public health and safety and to eradicate illegal imports and trade order disruption crimes.” He added, “We also ask citizens who become aware of smuggling or selling of illegal food, pharmaceuticals, and narcotics to actively report to the Korea Customs Service.”

Provided by Korea Customs Service