[앵커]
Recently, damage caused by determined charter scammers such as the so-called Villa King and God of Villa has been widely reported. Not only the actual victims, but also those who are currently living on a charter or need to find a charter house are experiencing increasing anxiety.
How could such a widespread fraud be perpetrated? A number of cases have been cited. As a result of our investigation, it was confirmed that one of these villa king scammers even promoted items related to the scam while appearing on a famous real estate TV show. The more concerned you are about where to look for real estate, the more likely you are to trust and negotiate with intermediaries who appear in the media or other reliable channels, which is why it is even more surprising. Let’s meet reporter Seo Min-seon from the Ministry of Social Affairs who covered this event. welcome
[기자]
Hello.
[앵커]
There are so many villa kings appearing in the media Who is the villa king you want to present today?
[기자]
Yes, this is Mr. 31-year-old Lee who has been active mainly in the northeast region such as Dobong-gu, Gangbuk-gu, and Jungnang-gu in Seoul. The financial crime investigation team of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency launched an investigation and arrested eight people a day, and only the main criminal, Mr Lee, was arrested.
Mr Lee is accused of defrauding 31.2 billion won in deposits from 118 tenants while owning a total of 413 villas for about 3 years and 7 months from September 2018 to April this year. As a result of the investigation, all of the 413 houses were in the name of Mr. Lee, and all of them were confirmed as a so-called ‘can charter’.
[앵커]
I owned about 400 villas in 3 years and 7 months.. So even if you do simple calculations, you buy one house every 3-4 days?
[기자]
Yes, Mr. Lee rental business corporation in Jungnang-gu, Seoul, recruiting employees, and looking for property with the main goal of new construction villa at medium to low price with high demand for rent, and bought property in the near future. – known as the ‘progress at the time’ method The offense was divided very precisely into roles such as those who do business, those who recruit tenants, and those who organize contract documents.
Reporter Hwang Jin-hwan
[앵커]
What do you mean?
[기자]
Yes, simultaneous execution refers to executing a global contract and a sales contract at the same time. To put it simply, the buyer buys the real estate with the jeonse, and the deposit received by the jeonse is used as the purchase price and given to the seller.
For example, assuming the market price of a villa is 200 million won, if a charter tenant of 200 million won is released, the deposit of 200 million won received at this time is presented to the villa seller as the it is, and the name of the villa is changed immediately to the buyer.
In this way, the buyer buys a villa with only the renter’s deposit without a single penny, also known as ‘no capital gap investment’. However, if this continues to rise, there is no problem, but when a high interest rate situation occurs like now and the charter price starts to fall, a problem arises. This is because if the prospective tenant’s deposit is less than the previous tenant’s deposit, the landlord must pay the difference.
Ultimately, the landlord is unable to return the deposit to the charter tenant and takes the deposit while holding out saying ‘there is no money’. In this way, Mr Lee also swindled 413 villas, a total of 31.2 billion won worth of deposits.
However, as these deposits were transferred to those who sold the villa to Mr. Lee in the first place, the actual money that went into Mr Lee’s pocket is not much except the money received in the name of the commission. For this reason, there is a saying that there is an architect or sales agent who sold the first villa behind the king of the villa, and the police are currently looking into him.
[앵커]
The problem is that this type of fraud has been presented as normal in an entertainment program dealing with earthly real estate. Did Mr. Lee?
[기자]
Yes, it’s an ‘Introduction to Real Estate’ program where a non-public client comes out and states some conditions, and famous performers find and recommend real estate properties that meet’ r criteria It is a popular program that has been broadcasting for about 4 years.
In a broadcast on May 19, 2019, Lee appeared and introduced real estate.
Having received information that Mr. Lee appeared on the broadcast, our reporters took a copy of the register of all the villas, and a house on the 5th floor of the villa was owned by Mr. Lee before the broadcast. It’s like being on the air while committing the crime of charter fraud.
At the moment, this property has been seized by the government due to the tax arrears of Mr. Lee, and the chartered tenant suffers damage because he has not received his deposit back.
[앵커]
While the charter fraud offense was in progress, he was appearing on a television program related to real estate, and it was like promoting sales related to the real estate you own through broadcasting.
[기자]
Yes. Specifically, the theme of the episode was ‘The client is looking for a private house in the forest area’. It became the best publicity program for Mr Lee, who was running a charter scam. After the broadcast aired, publicity articles about the villa poured online, and naturally, the entire villa was promoted, so the real estate owned by Mr. Lee was also promoted.
Mr Lee uploaded a picture of himself appearing on the show and taking pictures with the celebrities on his social media, and also used it for publicity in the subsequent charter fraud offence. After raising awareness and credibility through broadcasting, he continued to commit additional crimes against the tenants.
Reporter Hwang Jin-hwan · Courtesy of Smart Image
[앵커]
It appears that the producers of the program were not properly authenticated. What is the broadcaster’s point of view?
[기자]
Yes, it is reasonable that he would have checked at least whether the villa presented belonged to the person who brokered it or not. When our coverage began, the broadcaster said, “It is true that Mr. Lee has appeared. “It was the first time I knew it was happening.”
At the moment, after our article has been reported, there is a replay of the episode in which Mr. Lee in her suspended.
[앵커]
Broadcasters may not know the fact that they are part of the charter fraud, but is it not necessary to discover the ownership relationship between the villa and the performer who was the subject of the broadcast? Even on a stock investment broadcast, an expert talks on the broadcast as if there is good news for the stocks he bought in advance, so if you reap a profit later, you will be penalized.
Isn’t promoting your property through broadcasting a problem?
[기자]
That is a problem. First of all, Mr. Lee on the air as a ‘brokerage assistant’ who assists the simple work of a realtor.
However, according to the Licensed Realtor Act, a licensed realtor must not make a direct transaction with a client, promote or promote the property he owns. The same goes for intermediaries.
However, in the broadcast, Mr. Lee presented other properties in the same villa, not the real estate he owns, so it is difficult to see that the action is against the law.
[앵커]
Although it is difficult to say that it is illegal right away, it is an entertainment program, but there seems to be a problem from the point of view of media ethics. Specifically, this person is not a real estate agent, but a brokerage assistant, and appeared as a trusted expert on TV Is there any problem with this?
[기자]
Media assistants can obtain a license by completing only 4 hours of video lectures at the Certified Realtors Association, but there is no separate test or training after that, and on-site inspections at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the main ministry, are not properly maintained. Supervision is not working properly.
[앵커]
Are there any other cases besides Lee?
[기자]
Yes, it was reported that Mr Kim, the king of the villas in his 40s, who was found dead during a police investigation on charges of stealing deposits from hundreds of tenants while owning a total of 1,139 villas, worked as a brokerage assistant. for about 10 years. Previously, Mr. Lee and Mr. Kim learned the non-capital gap investment method while working as intermediary assistants, and eventually reached the villa king.
[앵커]
The long-neglected vacancy was revealed to be such a big deal. I think it’s on an unspeakable level. Urgent action is needed from the government. It was reporter Seo Min-seon from the Ministry of Social Affairs.
