"100 million won in each dormant customer account"... Employee Created 1.3 Billion Won in Deposits and Bought Gold Bars [Scammers]

[Financial News] "You can siphon off money by depositing funds into a customer account that has not been used for a long time."For an employee handling customer complaints, a flaw in the company's computer system became a channel for creating money. He exploited the fact that deposit records from virtual accounts not automatically linked to the accounting system could be converted into deposit balances usable like cash.
Employee A joined the victimized company in July 2013 and handled customer complaints, refunds, deposit conversions, and customer information processing. In January this year, he was promoted to senior manager of the team. After handling the relevant duties for years, he understood the company's computer systems, the structure for managing virtual-account deposits and deposit balances, and the authorization system for granting deposit balances to customers.
The crime was prompted by a failed cryptocurrency investment. After incurring more than 300 million won in debt and entering individual rehabilitation proceedings, Employee A used the flaw in the company's computer system that he knew about to commit the crime.
Employee A targeted deposits into virtual accounts held in the company's name that were not automatically linked to the accounting system. The data consisted of deposits such as customer payments for goods and commissions or advertising fees from partner vendors that had not been properly linked for reasons including mistaken deposits. These were known as 'unlinked virtual account' data.
Employee A converted the amounts recorded in the data into deposit balances that could be used like cash and placed them in customer accounts he could manage.
In March, he accessed the customer service system at the company's office in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, converted 112,313,000 won in unlinked data into a deposit balance, and arbitrarily placed it in the account of Customer D, which had not been used for a long time.
Using this method, Employee A created and granted deposit balances totaling 1,326,933,013 won in the accounts of 23 people, including customers he managed, from December 2024 through April this year. The court found that he obtained property benefits equivalent to that amount by entering false information or unauthorized commands, or by altering information without permission.
He also tampered with customers' personal information in the process of turning the deposit balances into actual assets.
In March, Employee A changed Customer D's mobile phone number to his own and deposited 112,310,000 won into D's account. He then accessed the company's online shopping mall in D's name and purchased two 187.5-gram gold bars and one 37.5-gram gold bar worth 112,306,708 won at market value.
From December last year through March this year, he changed the personal information of 18 customers, including their mobile phone numbers and deposit balances. He also closed 12 customer accounts to erase traces of the crime.
In particular, Employee A accessed the company's customer service system in February using the username and password of fellow employee E, which he had secretly obtained. He then used E's account to change customers' mobile phone numbers and other information, purchase gold bars, and close the customer accounts. The unauthorized use of his colleague's account continued through April this year.
His conduct after the crime was discovered also weighed against him in sentencing. Employee A opened a new mobile phone account under his spouse's name, avoided calls from the company, and was absent without authorization.
Investigators found that, despite being warned not to dispose of assets obtained through the crime, he withdrew approximately 120 million won the day after the search and seizure and spent it rather than using it to compensate the victims. The victimized company petitioned for severe punishment.
The court pointed out that Employee A had abused the knowledge and experience he gained while handling customer complaints, as well as the authority granted to him by the company. It also considered it an adverse sentencing factor that he had exploited flaws in the company's computer system over an extended period and used most of the misappropriated funds to buy gold bars that were easy to convert into cash.
The court further found that he had changed the personal information of customers unrelated to the crime and closed some of their accounts, then used a colleague's account without authorization, creating a risk that the colleague would be suspected of the crime. It concluded that the method was highly elaborate and that the nature of the offense was particularly reprehensible.
The fact that most of the losses had not been recovered also supported the severe sentence. A substantial portion of the misappropriated funds had already been spent or disposed of, and the court found that full recovery was unlikely given Employee A's financial means and income level.
However, the court took into account factors favorable to Employee A, including his admission of the crime and his status as a first-time offender with no prior criminal record. It also considered the recovery of approximately 312 million won in losses. Civil preservation measures had reportedly been taken against his remaining assets.
According to legal sources on the 18th, the Criminal Division of the Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced Employee A to six years in prison for violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Economic Crimes, the Personal Information Protection Act, and the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection. The verdict was handed down on the 11th.
The court described the crime as a "calculated and deliberate crime" that exploited flaws in the company's computer system using knowledge and experience acquired in the course of work. It stated, "Even after taking into account the circumstances favorable to the defendant, severe punishment commensurate with his culpability is unavoidable."
[email protected] Lee Dong-hyuk Reporter