"‘Multilevel Scam Amounts Should Be Aggregated for Enhanced Punishment’ Scam Victims Submit 17,169 Handwritten Petitions"

Hansaguk Calls for Stricter Punishment
Urges Supreme Court Sentencing Commission to Consider Total Damage in Organizational Fraud Cases

[Image source = Hanguksagi Prevention National Association]

The civic group Korea Anti-Fraud National Association (Hansaguk) submitted 17,169 handwritten petitions to the Supreme Court on the 13th, urging strict punishment for 'multi-level marketing organization fraud.' This was to coincide with the scheduled 136th Supreme Court Sentencing Commission meeting on the same day, aiming to prevent the recurrence of coin and stock leading fraud crimes and to unite the voices of fraud victims.

In the petition titled "A Request to the Supreme Court Sentencing Commission," Hansaguk argued that "in applying the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Economic Crimes, the amount defrauded in organizational fraud cases should be calculated based on the total amount of damage rather than the individual victim's amount." Under current law, the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Economic Crimes stipulates that if the individual gain from a criminal act is between 500 million KRW and less than 5 billion KRW, the offender shall be sentenced to imprisonment for at least three years, and if it exceeds 5 billion KRW, aggravated punishment such as life imprisonment or imprisonment for at least five years applies.

The problem was that the 500 million KRW threshold is difficult to apply to frauds affecting the general public. The 'individual gain' under the Act is the upper limit of the amount per victim and not a 'summed' amount, making it difficult to apply aggravated punishment to multi-level marketing fraud. Rather than a single victim losing over 500 million KRW, cases like the Ado International coin fraud frequently occur, where 36,000 people suffered a collective fraud of approximately 440 billion KRW in a Ponzi scheme pattern.

Furthermore, Hansaguk emphasized, "In punishing recruiters, past criminal records must be taken into account," and stressed that "due to the severe damage caused to the public by organizational fraud, those operating as part of fraud organizations should be punished under the crime of organizing and participating in criminal groups."