#Mr. A lived in M Apartment with his wife and child and had his wife falsely register her residence at his in-laws' unit on the floor above in the same apartment complex. He then included his father-in-law and mother-in-law as dependents and applied for dwellings offered in Seoul under the points system, winning a unit. On the resident registration, it appeared that Mr. A's wife had lived apart from their child (age 7) since the year the child turned one.
#Ms. B filed a move-in report to her ex-husband's apartment (won before the divorce) and moved in with their two children (a middle schooler and a high schooler) even after an uncontested divorce. After the divorce, she applied 32 times as a person without a home and won a unit in dwellings offered in Seoul under the points system. The winning dwelling was also applied for using Ms. B's financial certificate by her ex-husband, who executed the contract as her proxy, making it hard to view the relationship as truly divorced.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said on the 1st that it referred a total of 252 suspected cases of fraudulent subscriptions to the Korean National Police Agency for investigation after inspecting the status of subscriptions at 40 major housing sale sites in the greater Seoul area (about 28,000 units) in the first half of this year.
The number of detected cases of fraudulent subscriptions, which had surged sharply through the second half of 2024, began to decline in the first half of this year. The detected cases were 154 in the first half of 2023, 154 in the second half of 2023, and 127 in the first half of 2024, before jumping to 390 in the second half of 2024.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said this was because, starting with the second half of 2024, it made submission of National Health Insurance treatment records mandatory during inspections, allowing a more effective check of whether dependents actually reside together, which in turn appears to have sharply reduced cases of parents being falsely registered. The treatment records include the names and contact information of medical facilities (hospitals and pharmacies) used, making it possible to verify actual residence. In fact, false registrations fell from 384 in the second half of 2024 to 245 in the first half of this year. In this on-site inspection, officials also confirmed many cases where parents listed on the resident registration (suspected of false registration) were excluded from dependents when applying.
Even so, among the 252 fraudulent subscription cases detected this time, false residence registrations were the most common at 245. False registration refers to applying after filing a move-in report under false pretenses to obtain eligibility as a local resident or as a member of a household without a home, or to increase dependent points. In reality, people report moving into local dwellings, shops, factories, warehouses, motels, and so on without actually living there.
Sham divorces—filing for subscriptions after a fake divorce from a spouse who owns a home to raise points (period without a home) or to obtain special supply eligibility (member of a household without a home)—were found in five cases. In addition, one case each was detected of eligibility brokering and illegal resale: in eligibility brokering, the applicant conspires with a broker, hands over a financial certificate and passwords, applies and signs a contract by proxy, and exchanges a fee; in illegal resale, the supplier signs a supply contract after taking a deposit from a buyer during the resale-restricted period on the condition of transferring the pre-sale right in the future.
Beyond acts disrupting the supply order, 12 cases were also found where winners did not meet the criteria due to errors such as local priority supply mistakes or subscription point miscalculations; authorities canceled the wins and arranged supply to reserve tenants.
Jeong Su-ho, head of the Housing Fund Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "Although there had been signs of false residence registrations, it was difficult to detect them, but by obtaining 'National Health Insurance treatment records,' we can now accurately determine whether dependents actually reside together."
He added, "If fraudulent subscriptions are confirmed, we will take strong measures, including criminal punishment (imprisonment of up to 3 years or a fine of up to 30 million won), contract cancellation (recovery of the dwelling) and forfeiture of the deposit (10% of the sale price), and a 10-year restriction on subscription eligibility, so please be especially careful to avoid civil and criminal disadvantages."