Ministry of SMEs and Startups detects over 9,000 duplicate applications for same IP for policy funds... 760 blocked

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 5th that it detected 9,117 duplicate applications for the same Internet protocol (IP) for policy funds from January to October this year, and blocked 760 cases suspected of unfair intervention at the application stage.

It was reported that of the 723 illegal broker reports received during the same period, 14 cases were requested for investigation and 2 cases were sent to the prosecution.

On this day, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups held the 7th meeting of the 'Third Party Unfair Intervention Problem Resolution TF' attended by the National Police Agency, four policy financial institutions, the Startup Promotion Agency, and the Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs at the Seoul Creative Economy Innovation Center and shared these details.

At the meeting, the implementation status of the measures to prevent unfair third-party intervention in policy funds that have been promoted so far was reviewed, and plans for improving the processing procedures for identical IP applications for each agency, sharing the status of legislation, and operating a joint intensive reporting period for related agencies were discussed.

These organizations detected a total of 9,117 duplicate applications for the same IP from January this year to the end of last month through the same IP verification system. Among these, 760 cases (total of KRW 322.6 billion) suspected of unfair intervention were blocked at the policy fund application stage after wire confirmation and on-site investigation.

Recently, as it was pointed out in the National Assembly that the operation method of checking for illegal broker intervention in relation to policy fund applications through the same IP is different for each policy finance institution, improvement measures were also sought to improve the processing standards between institutions.

Accordingly, it was decided to consistently establish inter-agency operating standards regarding the same IP blocking method, verification procedures, IP management, etc. to reasonably determine whether illegal brokers are involved.

In addition, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that a total of 723 reports were received through the illegal broker reporting center during the same period, of which 14 cases were requested for investigation and 2 cases were sent to the prosecution.

Accordingly, in order to raise awareness of unfair third-party intervention and encourage reporting, it was decided to operate an 'intensive reporting period to eradicate unfair third-party intervention' from the 11th of this year to the 8th of next month.

During this intensive reporting period, the National Police Agency will newly participate in the four existing policy financial institutions to strengthen inspection and crackdown on illegal brokers.

In particular, the National Police Agency announced that receiving a certain amount of money or a certain percentage of the loan amount, regardless of the name, such as a commission or consulting fee, as a condition of executing a loan, from small and medium-sized businesses and small business owners can be punished as a violation of the Money Lending Act, etc., and announced that it will intensively look into whether or not there is a violation of the Money Lending Act.

At the meeting, the progress of the National Assembly's deliberation of related law amendments to supplement the limitations of the current legal system and establish an institutional foundation to eradicate unfair third-party intervention was also shared.

This amendment includes the following: ▲ establishing a clear definition of unfair intervention and new prohibition and punishment regulations ▲ codifying the authority to investigate unfair intervention and the investigation request system ▲ establishing new related regulations to promote reporting of unfair intervention and strengthen the reporting reward system. The amendment covers the ‘Act on the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises’ and the ‘Act on the Protection and Support of Small Business Owners’.

Noh Yong-seok, First Vice Minister of SMEs and Startups, said, "We will strengthen cooperation between relevant agencies to prevent unfair intervention from taking hold, and we will also discover and promote policies to prevent damage to small and medium-sized businesses and small business owners."