"We Exchange Money via KakaoTalk" – The Man in His 30s Who Moved 4.9 Billion Won in a Month

[The Financial News] A man in his 30s who recruited customers through a KakaoTalk open chat room, exchanged foreign currency without authorization, and pocketed commissions has been fined by the court.
According to the legal community on the 1st, Single Criminal Division 8 of the Seoul Western District Court, presided over by Judge Lee Se-chang, sentenced A (37), who was indicted in December last year on charges of violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, to a fine of 30 million won.
A was put on trial on charges of running a business exchanging Philippine pesos without registering as a foreign exchange business operator. Anyone who wishes to engage in foreign exchange business must meet capital, facility, and professional staffing requirements and register with the Minister of Economy and Finance, but investigators found that A did not go through this process.
In August 2024, after receiving a proposal from B, A conspired with him and began recruiting currency exchange customers through a KakaoTalk open chat room. A then had clients who wanted to exchange money transfer won to a domestic bank account, and arranged for a contact in the Republic of the Philippines to deliver pesos equivalent to the amount, minus a commission, to recipients there.
According to the written judgment, on September 6, 2024, A received about 30 million won from one client and, on the same day, had approximately 1.23 million pesos delivered locally in the Republic of the Philippines. From August 3 to September 8, 2024, over roughly one month, he was found to have illegally exchanged a total of about 4.926 billion won across 436 transactions. The exact amount of commissions he took has not been disclosed.
Investigators initially examined the case with the possibility of an illegal underground money transfer scheme (hwanchigi) in mind. To determine whether there were links to contacts overseas, they obtained and reviewed account transaction records, immigration records, and messenger conversations.
However, the court only recognized the fact that A conducted currency exchange as a business without registering for foreign exchange operations, finding him guilty solely of violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act and imposing a fine. The court stated that it determined the sentence after considering that the defendant admitted his wrongdoing and is reflecting on it, as well as the scale and duration of the transactions, his level of involvement and role, and the absence of prior convictions for similar offenses.
425_sama@fnnews.com Choi Seung-han Reporter