Crackdown on Illegal Name Borrowing Begins
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Those who use mobile phones, bank accounts or cars under illegally borrowed names will be severely punished, the government said Thursday, announcing a ``war'' against it.
According to governmental statistics, damages caused by this illegal borrowing of names amounted to 40 billion won in mobile usage and 110 billion won in unpaid automobile tax since 2003.
Also, the number of reported voice phishing fraud cases using these phones or bank accounts, came to 4,365 during the period from April 2006 to August this year.
Cars or mobile phones are usually stolen and used under another person's name, in many cases homeless people or credit defaulters _ making it hard to track down the identification of the real user.
The issue was highlighted when Shin Jeong-ah, an alleged Yale university degree fabricator and embezzler of her art gallery sponsorship, was reported to have used several of these phones. The prosecutors admitted that they had a hard time tracking down her phone usage since they were all made illegally under other people's names.
The government has decided to penalize not only the providers or brokers of these phones but also the people who use them.
Those applying for a new mobile phone must show their national identification card, driver's license, passport or disabled people's welfare card to the telecommunication company. The same goes for companies that provide advanced payment phones.
Foreigners whose passports expire will have their phone usage suspended even if they have paid the fee in advance.
To prevent massive cash flow as a result of using these fake bank accounts, the amount of money dealt through ATM machines at banks will be limited to 6 million won for withdrawals and 30 million for transfers. In the past, the comparable figure was 10 million won and 50 million won, respectively.
An estimated 110,000 cars in the nation are illegally operated in this way, and the government plans to crack down on them in October. Those who use or provide these vehicles will be fined up to 5 million won or up to two years imprisonment. The government will establish a database of vehicles without mandatory insurance, annual tests and unpaid tax records.