Samsung Electronics Employees Accused of Fraudulent Housing Subsidy Claims Reported to Police

People’s Livelihood Committee: “Obstruction of Business, Fraud, and Breach of Trust”
Allegations of “Rent Gouging”… Company Investigates Over 100 Employees

Some employees of the Device Solutions (DS) division at Samsung Electronics, who are responsible for the company’s semiconductor business, have been reported to the police on suspicion of illicitly receiving housing subsidies from the company.

Samsung Electronics Seocho Building. Photo by Yonhap News

The Citizens' Committee for the Protection of People’s Livelihoods (hereinafter referred to as “Seominwi”) announced on the 17th that it has filed a complaint with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency against employees of the Samsung Electronics DS division suspected of unlawfully obtaining housing support funds. The allegations include interference with business, fraud, and breach of trust. The accused have not been identified by name in the report.

In the complaint, Seominwi pointed out, “Employees at the Samsung Electronics Pyeongtaek plant submitted rental agreements to the company that differed from the actual lease conditions in order to receive up to 700,000 won per month in subsidies. In some cases, they prepared two separate contracts—one for the company and one as the real contract—or submitted a contract with an inflated rent and then received the difference back from the landlord, raising suspicions of what is known as ‘Wolse-kkang’ (a fraudulent scheme to illegally obtain more rental support).”

Since 2022, the Samsung Electronics DS division has provided up to 700,000 won per month in housing support for employees working at the Pyeongtaek plant who reside in officetels, one-room apartments, or 1.5-room apartments under 33 square meters (approximately 10 pyeong). This is a welfare program for employees who face difficulty commuting from their family homes due to distance, or who require separate accommodations for shift work.

However, on September 8, allegations surfaced that some employees had submitted rental agreements that did not match the actual lease terms in order to unjustly receive housing support payments. As a result, Samsung Electronics has launched an internal investigation, and it is reported that over 100 employees are under review.

Seominwi has asserted that it is necessary to verify the documents submitted by each employee, the actual lease contracts, the duration and amount of support received, as well as whether there were any false statements or intentional wrongdoing.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.