15,000 won → 2,000 won for 20 bags of ramen, and 150,000 won → 30,000 won for high-end cosmetics
, selling products at an exceptional price to consumers, and then not shipping or refunding them, from 810,000 people A shopping mall operator who stole billions of won has been arrested.
Today (10th), the Cybercrime Investigation Unit of the Daejeon Police Agency announced that it had recently arrested shopping mall operator A (41) on charges of fraud and booked six accomplices, including company representative B, without detention.
Since February of last year, Mr. A advertised that shopping malls 'Style V' and 'Osisa' sell groceries and household goods at 80% cheaper than the market price, but he is accused of deceiving buyers by not actually sending goods or delaying refunds.
According to what the police found out, it was confirmed that 2,026,436 orders, or 89.5%, of a total of 2,265,422 orders from 'Style V' and 'Osissa' had not been delivered or refunded.
The number of victims identified through the database (DB) of the two shopping malls operated by Mr. A reached 815,06, and the total amount of damage was estimated to reach about 7.4 billion won.
However, only 6,957 of the numerous victims reported to the police.
In addition to the buyer, it was found that four partner companies in the shopping mall suffered damage, such as not receiving transaction payments.
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▲ Current status of 'Mom & Mart'
consultations released by the Korea Consumer Agency
However, it was revealed that Mr. A had opened and operated four additional shopping malls, 'Dokkaebi Mart', 'Ssakdeal', 'Beauty Hero', and 'Mom & Mart' in June of last year, when he was under police investigation.
Currently, the shopping mall payment window is closed.
As a result of the police investigation, he operated 38 shopping malls in a similar way through six corporations from 2018 to 2020, served 10 months in prison for fraud, and was released from prison.
Nevertheless, Mr. A is known to deny the allegation of fraud, stating, "It was just aggressive marketing."
Regarding the case, Daejeon Police Agency Cyber Investigation Chief Hong Young-seon pointed out, "It is intentional to aim at the fact that buyers who have suffered minor damage do not report it to the police."
"We are considering this as a fraudulent method to prevent the return of shopping malls by selling goods at a loss of 20% of the market price at the beginning with the price of goods received while operating several sites, and then refunding only to victims who report after stopping delivery." explained.
(Photo = Yonhap News, Korea Consumer Agency)