[Getty Images Bank]
[Getty Images Bank]

A woman in her 40s spent not a single won of her own money to acquire more than 40 officetels and villas — a textbook jeonse fraud scheme. She has been sentenced to prison after pocketing 13.8 billion won ($8.93 million) in jeonse deposits to fund the purchases.

Judge Park Gwang-min of the Cheongju District Court's Criminal Division 1 sentenced the woman, identified only as A, to two years in prison on fraud charges, the court announced Sunday.

Between July 2021 and April 2022, A bought 47 officetels and villas across Seoul and Gyeonggi Province without putting up any capital of her own. She was indicted on charges of misappropriating 13.8 billion won in jeonse deposits in the process.

A targeted officetel and villa owners who were trying to recoup their down payments through sales contracts after their properties had been completed.

She would place a preliminary purchase contract on a property under the name of a "straw buyer," then collect inflated jeonse deposits from incoming tenants — deposits exceeding the actual sale price — and use that money to complete the purchase, acquiring ownership without spending any of her own funds.

A paid brokers and licensed real estate agents who assisted her a portion of the lease deposits as kickbacks, and used the remainder to acquire additional properties.

As a result, the properties A purchased became so-called "empty-can jeonse" units, where the jeonse deposit exceeded the sale price. Tenants were not informed of this before signing their contracts.

"The defendant committed crimes against numerous victims and made no meaningful effort to make them whole," Judge Park said in his ruling. "However, taking into account that the risk of actual financial loss was not fully realized — as many victims were able to recover a substantial portion of their deposits through lease deposit guarantee insurance — the court determined the sentence accordingly."


sun@heraldcorp.com