A ring that falsely reported real estate sales at prices higher than actual transaction prices to inflate home values, or that bought farmland after obtaining information about favorable development plans and then illegally converted or leased it, was caught by police.
The Korean National Police Agency National Office of Investigation (NOI) said on the 26th that it arrested a total of 1,493 people through a special crackdown on real estate crimes and referred 640 to prosecutors. Seven were arrested and detained. Police carried out real estate-related crackdowns for five months after the government released the Oct. 15 real estate measures last year.
Police focused on eight crimes: ▲ illegal brokerage activities such as inflating home prices ▲ supply order disruption such as fraudulent subscriptions ▲ speculation using inside information ▲ corruption in reconstruction and redevelopment ▲ planned real estate schemes ▲ illegal speculation in farmland ▲ title trusts ▲ and jeonse fraud.
Among those arrested, supply order disruption accounted for the most at 448 people (30%). That was followed by farmland speculation at 293 (19.6%), illegal brokerage at 254 (17%), and title trusts at 218 (14.6%).
In Seoul, three people were caught inflating home prices through sham transactions. They are accused of reporting a sale at a price 180 million won higher than the going rate, then canceling the contract and actually selling at the inflated market price (in violation of the Real Estate Transaction Reporting Act). They exploited the fact that for transactions registered in the actual transaction price disclosure system, even if a contract is canceled, one only needs to notify the cancellation within one month of the cancellation date.
In North Jeolla, 14 members of a group were caught after conspiring to split the lease deposit subsidized for the sale of LH rental housing and renting the dwellings through sham address changes; and 219 members of a ring that, after obtaining information that there would be favorable development in areas around Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, bought nearby farmland and, without farming it themselves, illegally leased it to others.
In Busan, 35 licensed real estate agents who formed an association and colluded to restrict co-brokerage by nonmembers were also sent to prosecutors this month. In the process of selecting a rental apartment operator, two people—including the head of a Daejeon-area housing redevelopment association and a rental business operator—who exchanged valuables worth 250 million won were handed over to prosecutors in custody in Nov. last year.
Police have launched a second special real estate crackdown through Oct. The "Special Investigation Task Force on Real Estate Crimes," which had been led by the National Office of Investigation (NOI) investigation bureau chief as head, will also be maintained to continue the probe.