[War Against Jeonse Fraud] Police Share 14,000 Suspicious Cases... Focus on Special Crackdown and Investigation

The National Police Agency in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, on the 2nd, when the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's Police Bureau officially launched. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The National Police Agency has received 13,961 suspicious jeonse fraud cases from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to strengthen special crackdowns. The police have established and been operating a dedicated investigation headquarters for jeonse fraud since last month.

On the 24th, the National Police Agency announced that it received data analyzing suspicious jeonse fraud cases from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which collaborated with the Housing and Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG) and the Korea Real Estate Board for the special crackdown. The data received by the police includes ▲ information on high-risk debtors who received administrative sanctions for violations such as mandatory guarantee subscription ▲ landlords who received administrative sanctions ▲ cases currently under police crackdown and investigation. The police added that they received investigation requests for 2,111 out of 3,353 high-risk debtor cases where HUG made substitute payments to tenants but the debts remain unpaid for a long time. There are 26 landlords involved, and the substitute payment amount reaches 450.7 billion KRW. Additionally, the police received 10,230 related cases, including those involving large-scale buying and selling immediately after lease contracts and multi-home contracts with jeonse rates exceeding 100%, secured through their own real transaction analysis.

The National Police Agency expects that this data sharing will accelerate the handling of existing cases and enable investigations into new matters. Earlier, following President Yoon Seok-yeol’s directive last month to "respond strictly to crimes threatening people’s livelihoods such as jeonse fraud," a dedicated team was formed. After Police Chief Yoon Hee-geun was appointed on the 10th, a related task force (TF) was organized to respond. The TF is led by Nam Gu-jun, head of the National Investigation Headquarters, with participation from director-level officials. The TF is conducting focused crackdowns and investigations in coordination with dedicated investigation teams led by deputy chiefs of investigation at each metropolitan and provincial police agency. The dedicated investigation teams consist of 296 teams and 1,691 personnel, including anti-corruption economic crime investigation units at metropolitan and provincial police agencies and intelligence teams at police stations nationwide.

At a press briefing on the 22nd, Chief Yoon announced that the special crackdown on jeonse fraud had resulted in the arrest of 44 people in 34 cases involving non-return of deposits, and that over 300 cases from various reports and intelligence were under internal and external investigation. At that time, Chief Yoon revealed a blueprint, stating, "To uncover organized jeonse fraud, nationwide and integrated investigations such as verifying the overall housing ownership status are important, so we plan to promptly analyze the 'suspicious jeonse fraud data' under consultation with the Ministry of Land and conduct focused investigations." The police plan to carry out intensive investigations and crackdowns on jeonse fraud until December. Chief Yoon intends to personally oversee the jeonse fraud investigations continuing through the end of the year, emphasizing, "Although the National Investigation Headquarters will lead the investigations, I will receive weekly reports during the initial implementation phase."