Lent 857.5 million won, collected 673.46 million won in interest alone
Two illegal moneylenders in their 30s have been sentenced to prison after lending money to more than 500 people and collecting interest far above the legal maximum. The annual interest rates they applied ranged from 76 percent to as high as 40,150 percent.
Judge Lee Jun-min of the Busan District Court sentenced one of the men, identified only as A, to one year and two months in prison, and the other, identified as B, to one year, the court announced Sunday. Both were indicted on charges of violating the Act on Registration of Credit Business and Protection of Finance Users.
The judge also ordered each man to forfeit 68.22 million won.
According to the ruling, the two men operated an unregistered lending business from January 2024 to December 2025, making 1,343 loans totaling 857.5 million won to 551 borrowers and collecting 673.46 million won in interest.
Among the cases cited, one borrower received 1.3 million won and was required to repay 2 million won — principal and interest combined — just four days later, an annualized rate of 3,930 percent.
The men also collected personal information from borrowers during the loan process, including the contact details of family members, acquaintances and coworkers, as well as photos of borrowers' faces and national ID cards, which they used for debt collection.
"The scale of the crime was substantial, at around 1.5 billion won, making the culpability serious, and the victims have yet to be compensated," Judge Lee said in explaining the sentences. He added that A had committed the offenses while on a suspended sentence for a separate crime, a factor that weighed in favor of imposing an immediate custodial term.
yjsung@heraldcorp.com
