Naked Debt Collection and 3000% Interest... Police Arrest 11 Members of Illegal Loan Sharking Group

Unfair Profit of 230 Million Won Over 9 Months

An illegal loan company gang that demanded nude photos as loan conditions and threatened to distribute them to collect interest rates exceeding 3,000% per annum was caught by the police.

Seoul Dongdaemun Police Station.

On the 30th, the Dongdaemun Police Station in Seoul announced that they arrested 11 people, including CEO A, who operated an illegal loan company in the Dongdaemun and Jungnang districts, on charges of organized crime activities, violation of the Sexual Violence Punishment Act, violation of the Loan Business Act, and violation of the Debt Collection Act, and detained four of them.

They are accused of opening an internet site for small loan promotion from October last year to July this year and demanding excessive interest rates of 3,000% per annum, as well as residents registration certificates, contacts of acquaintances, and nude photos from victims as loan conditions. They also allegedly gained unfair profits of about 230 million KRW from 83 victims by threatening to distribute the nude photos to the victims’ families and acquaintances and forcing them to repay the debts if the victims failed to repay within the period.

It was investigated that they meticulously committed crimes to evade police investigation. They used Telegram, an overseas-based messenger, and contacted victims using aliases and burner phones. They had a cell-like organization similar to voice phishing groups by using fake bank accounts and money laundering agents to receive and withdraw loan interest payments. All loan processes were operated non-face-to-face, and they moved their office every three months.

A police official said, “We implemented victim protection programs such as personal protection measures for victims, linking to counseling centers, and support for deleting victim videos, and focused on preventing secondary damage through seizure and analysis of suspects’ mobile phones to ensure nude photos are not distributed,” adding, “We will continue special crackdowns on illegal private loan offenders in the future.”