75 people sent to construction site employment with fake certificates

The International Crime Investigation Unit of the Metropolitan Investigation Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency arrested Mr. A and the foreign buyer on charges of forging alien registration cards and construction certificates and selling them to foreign workers residing in Korea (forgery of official documents, etc.). It was announced on the 23rd that 75 people were arrested and two of them were detained. 69.3% of the suspects were Chinese nationals, including Nepali, Vietnamese, and Filipino nationals. There were also five illegal immigrants.

According to the police, since May of last year, Mr. A has been conspiring with the general manager, Mr. B, who lives in Vietnam and China, to sell fake certificates to would-be buyers for 70,000 to 150,000 won each. Mr. B lives overseas. He forged various national technical certificates for formwork, rebar, ondol, and construction machine control. He disguised them as a ‘smart phone case’ and sent them by international mail to Mr. A in Korea. The police said We are currently tracking Mr. B’s whereabouts, which are believed to be in China and Vietnam.

The daily wage for foreign workers who work for the first time at a construction site is around 170,000 won, but if they have a certificate, it rises by about 50,000 won to 200,000 to 230,000 won. It is pointed out that the crime of distributing fake IDs and certificates targeting this structure is being repeated.