2020 Model Full-Size Sedan Listed at 16.4 Million Won? It Was Already Sold for 42.9 Million Won

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hoon] Gyeonggi Province, which previously identified and filed criminal charges against suspected fraudulent used car listing websites, has now discovered fraudulent listing sites by utilizing big data comprising 1 million cases.

Kim Ji-ye, director of the Fair Trade Bureau of Gyeonggi Province, held a press conference at the Gyeonggi Province Government Building on the 1st and announced, "As a result of real-time monitoring of used cars using big data, we detected a total of 74 cases across 34 websites, and we have decided to file criminal charges against 9 websites that are advertising fraudulent listings."

Director Kim stated, "It is true that fraudulent listing websites have been on a declining trend following investigations and criminal charges against fraudulent used car listing websites last year, but fraudulent websites that deceive consumers still remain," and added, "Gyeonggi Province intends to operate a real-time surveillance system for fraudulent used car listings to create a fair used car market."

This investigation followed Governor Lee Jae-myung's directive to establish a real-time surveillance system for fraudulent used car listings, given at the 'Expert Forum for Improving the Used Car Market' held in August last year. The province established a real-time monitoring system for used cars using big data and conducted an investigation from October 23 to December 15 of last year.

The province first filtered out suspected cases from approximately 1 million used car listings through a big data company, selecting products from major domestic used car websites and suspected fraudulent listing sites.

The province applied the following criteria for primary filtering: ▲listings with sale prices 70% or below the average ▲listings that cannot be verified as actual listings on the 'Auto365' website provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport ▲listings with vehicle information discrepancies such as model year and mileage ▲suspected inactive or closed dealerships. After primary filtering, the province conducted investigations by verifying these cases using administrative information.

As a result, by type, the province detected a total of 74 cases across 34 websites: ▲9 websites with fraudulent listings (22 cases) ▲10 websites with model year marking errors (16 cases) ▲12 websites with sale price errors including lease vehicle prices (18 cases) ▲1 website with accident history discrepancies (1 case) ▲6 websites with different jurisdictional areas (17 cases), etc. (excluding 4 duplicate websites).

In one case, an imported vehicle listed on a used car website was advertised with a sale price of 21 million won, a mileage of 231km, and a 2019 model year. However, upon actual verification, the vehicle was found to be worth approximately 37 million won with a mileage of over 62,000km and a 2016 model year.

Moreover, the vehicle had already completed its ownership transfer in April of last year, before the monitoring began.

On another website, a 2020 model full-size sedan was advertised at a sale price of 16.4 million won with a mileage of 2,331km. However, this vehicle had already completed its ownership transfer in July of last year, with an actual sale price of 42.9 million won at the time of transaction and a mileage of 4,554km.

The province decided to proceed with criminal charges against the operators of 9 websites or dealerships for 22 fraudulent listings through legal review.

Additionally, the province requested corrections from 19 business operators who made relatively minor errors such as incorrectly marking the model year or registering lease prices as sale prices, and transferred 6 websites with different jurisdictional areas to the relevant authorities.

Separately, the province identified 64 business operators whose information did not match due to suspended or closed operations despite having listings on major websites, and requested the websites to make improvements including deletion of business operator information.

Director Kim Ji-ye of the Fair Trade Bureau stated, "We plan to continue real-time surveillance of fraudulent used car listings this year," and added, "We will operate a consumer consultation hotline for used car-related matters to actively provide relief for consumer damage from used car transactions, and we plan to conduct intensive inspections on used car dealerships that frequently cause consumer damage."

Meanwhile, in July of last year, Gyeonggi Province selected suspected fraudulent listing websites through internet portal site searches where information on vehicle location, business operator details, and vehicle market value was insufficient. Through monitoring, the province filed criminal charges against 31 websites and took follow-up measures such as requesting search result blocking from portal sites including Naver and Daum.

Currently, investigations for some business operators have been completed and sent to the prosecution, while investigations for the remaining operators are ongoing.