No auctioning property of rental scam victims: Yoon

President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered officials to take measures to suspend the auctioning of real estate connected victims of a major rental scam in a Cabinet meeting Tuesday.

Activists hold a press conference calling on the government to address the rental scam issue after three people died by suicide over housing fraud in front of the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered officials to take measures to suspend the auctioning of real estate connected to victims of a major rental scam in a Cabinet meeting Tuesday.

Yoon's instructions came after a third person died of an apparent suicide Monday in Incheon connected to a large-scale housing fraud after a local builder refused to return the lump-sum deposits, or jeonse, to tenants.

"Jeonse crimes typically prey on the weak," Yoon told his ministers in the weekly Cabinet meeting as he ordered the government to come up with measures to help housing fraud victims.

"The victims of these tragic incidents are young people, our future generation."

Yoon, in turn, ordered the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong during the meeting to implement plans to suspend the auctioning of real estate connected to the victims of housing fraud, presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon said in a briefing Tuesday.

Yoon was quoted by Lee as saying that "most of the victims of the jeonse fraud, who are the socially underprivileged, are often unaware that there are relief methods or support policies."

During the meeting, Yoon said it is "regrettable" to see the additional victims despite the government's crackdown on such rental scams and ordered his ministers to "check and check again to see whether government measures are working properly in the field."

Yoon stressed that after he took office last May, the government conducted a crackdown on jeonse fraud, which led to the arrest of some 2,000 people for allegedly violating the Housing Lease Protection Act and other related laws.

He told officials to "preemptively investigate whether there are any blind spots and provide on-site support services."

The orders come after the latest rental scam victim, a 31-year-old woman, was found unconscious in her home Monday in Michuhol District, Incheon, after she had been swindled by a local builder who was arrested in February for failing to return the jeonse deposits he had received from tenants.

She died in the ambulance on her way to a hospital.

A suicide note was found in her home, and there were no signs of foul play, according to Incheon police.

The woman wasn't able to recoup some 90 million won ($68,000) deposit after the apartment she was living in was auctioned off in June 2022.

The local builder, dubbed the "construction king," failed to return a total of 12.5 billion won in jeonse deposits he had received for 161 apartment units in Michuhol between January and July 2022.

This local builder and nine realtors were later arrested and indicted for charges of fraud for failing to return the rental deposits.

Two victims died by apparent suicide after they also failed to retrieve their jeonse deposits in the same rental scam scheme in Incheon — a man in his 30s on Feb. 28 and another man in his 20s last Friday.

Yoon's orders to minimize damages from rental scams is seen to take into consideration that the recent victims died by suicide after failing to get their jeonse deposits back after their apartments were auctioned off.

Acknowledging that some of the victims "took extreme measures" because of the immediate difficulties they were facing, a presidential official told reporters that "they shouldn't give up."

On the same day, a group of 65 civic groups held a press conference to launch a committee dedicated to resolving the jeonse fraud in front of the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul.

They called for the enactment of a special law to support these victims, saying that "jeonse fraud should be recognized as a social disaster, not individual negligence."

President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks on jeonse fraud, which has become a major social concern, during a Cabinet meeting at the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul on Tuesday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

If you or someone you know is feeling emotionally distressed or struggling with thoughts of suicide, LifeLine Korea can be contacted at 1588-9191 or the Crisis Counseling Center at 1577-0199. The Seoul Global Center offers English-language counseling. Contact 02-2075-4180 (+1) to arrange a session. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]