A woman in her 30s surnamed Park used her father's preferential card, which is in the name of her father in his 60s, about 470 times while commuting between Sindorim Station, where her home is located, and Hapjeong Station, where her workplace is located, for six months starting from January 2018. Her actions were discovered by station staff analyzing closed-circuit television (CCTV), and the Seoul Transportation Corporation charged her 19 million won in additional fares. However, she refused to pay, and including delayed interest due to criminal charges and civil lawsuits, she ended up having to pay 25 million won.
The Seoul Transportation Corporation stated on the 7th that it has filed a total of 130 lawsuits against such fraudulent riders since the integration.
The corporation finalized 22 civil lawsuits filed against fraudulent riders last year and carried out over 40 forced executions. As of the end of July this year, 12 civil lawsuits have been finalized and 20 enforced.
So far, the highest additional fare lawsuit is that of Ms. Park. She has paid 16.86 million won to date and has agreed to pay 600,000 won monthly until the end of next year.
The corporation announced that it is operating an internal system to systematically manage all processes related to crackdowns on fraudulent rides, from enforcement to collection, in order to collect additional fares to the end.
In addition, the corporation is proceeding with criminal charges under the criminal law against passengers caught for fraudulent rides who do not pay the additional fees. In this case, fines are typically imposed.
Despite this, fraudulent rides continue unabated. The corporation has reported that between 2022 and 2024, it has cracked down on an average of 56,000 fraudulent rides annually, collecting about 2.6 billion won. As of the end of July this year, there have been 32,325 cases, with a total amount collected of 1.577 billion won.
Additionally, there is an increasing trend in the fraudulent use of the Climate Companionship Card. This includes using cards issued to family members or acquaintances, or multiple users repeatedly using a single card. The fraudulent use of the Climate Companionship Card has seen 5,033 cases and 247 million won identified as of the end of July this year.
Ma Haegun, head of sales at the Seoul Transportation Corporation, said, "We will hold fraudulent riders accountable to the end."