As illegal private lending disguised as normal transactions increases, there are cases in which victims are instead being sued as fraud suspects by illegal private lenders.
Victim A used an illegal private loan with an annual interest rate reaching 3,200%, and when the money could not be repaid, the lender filed a fraud complaint. The Daegu Prosecution Service, after an investigation, confirmed that the lender had repeatedly filed similar complaints against other debtors and determined that fraud was not established.
Illegal private lenders offering gift certificate loans and the like are trying to make it look like a normal transaction between individuals. However, as a recent precedent holds that whether a business is a lending business should be determined by the transaction structure rather than the counterparty, the situation is expected to improve.
An official at the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency said, "Previously, there was no clear concept for gift certificate usury. We led a ruling that any form of transaction that sets a period and charges high interest according to that period all falls under the lending business."
Attorney Kim Byeong-guk of Beonhwa Law Office added, "If it can be proven who proposed the gift certificate transaction and the difference between the amount actually received and the amount to be repaid, one can be recognized as a victim of illegal private lending," and "the party who filed a fraud complaint can be countersued for false accusation."
A victim sued by an illegal private lender must endure inconvenience until receiving a decision of no charges. Another victim, B, after being accused of fraud, had an account in their name registered as a suspected fraud account and faced difficulties in normal financial transactions. It took about two months from the date the fraud was reported until B received a non-referral disposition.