Former Police Officer Rental Fraud Scandal Uncovered in Gwanak-gu, Seoul: Exclusive Report

◀ Again ▶

In the Gwanak-gu neighborhood of Seoul, tenants who are victims of “rental fraud” appear one after another in recent times.

The number of identified victims is close to 20 and the owner of the house turned out to be a former police officer who worked at the local police station.

Let’s take a look at journalist Byun Yun-jae’s exclusive report.

◀ Report ▶

When Kim, a neighbor who lives in the same mansion, was worried about a rental scam, she had no idea it would become her problem.

However, when I learned that my neighbor’s house had been temporarily seized, I took a copy of the register just in case.

As expected, a few days ago his rented house was also temporarily seized in the name of an unknown person.

[김 모 씨/피해 세입자]

“I tried to contact the owner, but he didn’t respond and thereafter the internet, water and municipal electricity were slowly shut off.”

Not long after, tenants lined up in the area claiming they had been scammed out of rent.

[최 모 씨/피해 세입자]

“I got help from my parents, but I ended up losing that too, so it was really devastating.”

What they had in common was that they had the same owner.

The owner, Mr Lee, in his 40s, reassured tenants that he was a police officer at the time the contract was signed.

He reportedly showed his police officer card and said, “You can trust me because my identity is guaranteed,” and also worked as a security guard at the Blue House and the local police station.

[김 모 씨/피해 세입자]

“I asked him, “How was it possible for you to invest like this even though you were a police officer?” and he replied, “Because I patrolled a lot when I was a police officer, I got to know a lot of buildings as you walk by. .”

In fact, it turned out that Mr Lee worked at the Seoul Gwanak Police Station and retired in April 2022.

So far, 17 cases of damage have occurred, and the damage amount is about 2.5 billion won.

Police believe Mr Lee only owns eight buildings in the area and that he bought the house with a bank loan, repaid it with a deposit and failed to cover his debt by increasing the number of buildings.

The police who received the complaint believed that the fraud also included the accusation of impersonating a police officer and requested a ban on Mr Lee from leaving the country, who did not comply with the request to appear.

This is Byun Yun-jae from MBC News.

Video Coverage: Kim Seung-woo and So Jeong-seop / Video Editing: Lim Hye-min

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