Organization Selling Counterfeit Liquor Worth 3.5 Billion Won Busted...Members Forced to ‘Run on a Treadmill Holding Weight Plates’ as Punishment

[Financial News] Police have arrested a criminal organization that operated entertainment establishments in a busy area of Busan and made tens of billions of won by manufacturing and selling counterfeit liquor. The group reportedly controlled its members through brutal methods, including forcing employees who tried to flee or violated internal rules to “run on a treadmill without a time limit while holding weight plates.”
The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency announced on the 9th that it had arrested 61 people on suspicion of fraud, concealing criminal proceeds overseas, and operating an unregistered paid job-placement business in violation of the Employment Security Act. The suspects are accused of operating five bars near Busan Metro’s Seomyeon Station from April 2022 and manufacturing and selling counterfeit liquor worth approximately 3.5 billion won.
According to police, the suspects formed an organization for the crimes and divided roles among members, including the ringleader, managers, madams, waiters, and touts. They lured intoxicated customers to their establishments and induced them to make advance payments through internet banking or in cash. During this process, they memorized the victims’ phone-unlock patterns and passwords.
They then served the victims counterfeit liquor prepared in advance. While the victims were unconscious, the suspects placed empty liquor bottles on the tables and allegedly inflated the bills. Police explained that they used the phone patterns and passwords memorized during the advance-payment process to make transfers or withdraw money from the victims’ cards.
Members carried out specific roles. The ringleader issued instructions through Telegram. Madams provided preliminary training to female entertainment workers and regularly checked the conditions in the rooms. If customers did not fall asleep quickly, they turned on heaters or increased the amount of counterfeit liquor ordered. Waiters collected leftover liquor and mixed it with items such as black tea to make counterfeit liquor, then opened the bottles themselves to make them appear to be new.
A member serving as a manager allegedly assaulted employees who violated internal rules and subjected them to cruel punishment. This was used to prevent members from leaving the organization. The methods disclosed by police were brutal: confining victims in a sauna, forcing them into ice water in a bathtub, and making them run on a treadmill without a time limit while holding weight plates at a gym.
Police investigated whether approximately 1,000 people had been victimized over the past 18 months and found that most were middle-aged men. By analyzing the organization’s sales ledgers and transaction records from accounts used in the crimes, police also confirmed sales of counterfeit liquor worth approximately 3.5 billion won.
The organization’s activities came to light after six members who could no longer endure the cruel treatment reported the group themselves. During the process, the ringleader conducted surprise checks of members’ phones, and one informant was reportedly confined in a vehicle. Police immediately tracked the vehicle and, in coordination with the 112 Emergency Communications Center and police precincts, first arrested 45 members. They later arrested 16 additional people from an unregistered entertainment-worker supply agency that provided female entertainment workers.
According to police, the suspects even held meetings led by the ringleader to coordinate their statements in preparation for the crimes being discovered. Some members denied the crimes and changed their statements to benefit the ringleader. Police are also pursuing two accomplices who fled overseas, and detected signs that members were attempting to provide escape funds through cryptocurrency. Police seized 200 million won in escape funds and obtained a court order preserving the funds for forfeiture before indictment.
A police official said, “This case cleverly exploited the fact that heavily intoxicated victims may not easily remember what happened and may hesitate to report the crimes because they fear their visits to entertainment establishments will be exposed. The organization was a criminal group that seriously harmed public welfare by controlling lower-ranking members through brutal methods, including assault and cruel punishment.”
[email protected] Baek Chang-hoon Reporter