A 20-Year-Old Who Made False Returns Worth 30 Million KRW for 1,638 Orders on Coupang and Resold Them

Abusing the Return Policy...
8-Month Prison Sentence Suspended for 2 Years

A person in their 20s who exploited Coupang Rocket Fresh's return policy to order 1,683 items over about four months and 'eat and run' with goods worth over 30 million won, gaining unfair profits, was sentenced to a suspended prison term.

According to the legal community on the 3rd, Judge Ryu Kyung-jin of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 10 sentenced A, who was indicted on fraud charges, to 8 months in prison with a 2-year suspension and ordered 120 hours of community service.

From November 30, 2023, to April 1, 2024, A ordered products 1,683 times through Coupang Rocket Fresh over about four months. This averages 14 items purchased per day. After receiving the goods, A repeatedly made false return requests. The amount defrauded by this act reached 31,856,030 won.

This was an abuse of the return policy. In the case of fresh food, if a return is made due to delivery issues or product defects, Coupang does not collect the goods but requests the consumer to dispose of them themselves while refunding the payment.

A told a third party, "I will order at a discounted price," took money, received the products, handed them over to the third party as is, and then falsely applied for returns. The ordered items included milk, cheese sticks, butter, various vegetables and fruits, and ice cream, all of which were confirmed to have no quality issues.

The court stated, "The defendant deposited 10 million won on August 19, 2024, for the victim company to compensate for damages, but a significant loss has yet to be recovered," and pointed out, "The method was planned and the nature of the crime is not light."

There have been similar false return cases in the past. In 2020, a person in their 30s who embezzled goods worth 22.6 million won from Coupang through about 500 false returns was sentenced to 8 months in prison with a 2-year suspension.

This was a case of abusing Coupang's refund policy, where delivery staff immediately refund consumers once they receive returned goods. The perpetrator ordered and received goods, removed the contents, repackaged the empty boxes, and applied for returns to get money back. They even borrowed acquaintances' IDs and committed 525 false returns over 11 months.