A loan shark who demanded an absurd annual interest rate of up to 13,000% was caught by the police. Most of the victims were in their 20s and 30s, and they even built soundproof facilities in their offices to threaten them loudly.
Reporter Jeong Jun-ho covered the story.
<Reporter>
The police raid an office.
[hand! Hands off. Raise your hand!]
This is a scene where an illegal loan shark is caught by the police.
They attracted people who needed urgent money by offering small loans.
Most of them were young people in their 20s and 30s with low credit ratings.
They lent him 300,000 won and asked him to repay 500,000 won a week later. If he didn’t pay it back on time, he charged an additional interest rate of 50,000 won per hour.
This exorbitant interest rate averaged 3,000% per annum and reached a maximum of 13,000%.
Some victims were given nude photos.
[Kido Gyun/Chief of Investigation Division 2, Dongdaemun Police Station굿모닝토토, Seoul: They are applying very severe pressure. Then we are now pushed to the edge of a cliff. Then, send them nude photos in exchange for extending repayment.]
If they couldn’t repay the money, they sent nude photos to family members or acquaintances and threatened them to pay for them.
The victim’s family’s face was combined with a nude photo to create a prostitution flyer and distributed it to acquaintances.
The number of people who borrowed money from them in the nine months since October last year was 83.
The amount of damage amounts to 230 million won.
Of these, 21 people were asked for nude photos.
To avoid police investigation, these groups made loans non-face-to-face and moved their offices every three months.
A soundproof phone booth was also installed in the office to loudly threaten the victims.
The police arrested 11 people, including Mr. A, the owner of an illegal loan company, and handed over 6 people to the prosecution.
The police confiscated cell phones to prevent the distribution of nude photos and took protective measures to delete photos distributed online.