[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] Police have launched a forced investigation into Kakao Pay, which is suspected of receiving illegal subsidies from an electronic financial assistant (VAN).

The anti-corruption crime investigation unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said on the 3rd that it raided Kakao Pay's headquarters in Bundang-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. The police also seized and searched Nice Information and Communication in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul.

The police suspect that Nice Information and Communication paid the recruitment agency fee instead to the VAN agency, which Kakao Pay recruits offline merchants from April 2021 to December last year.

Nice Information and Communication provides a service that relays the entire transaction, including the inquiry and approval of credit card transactions between credit card companies and merchants. The police estimate that the level of cost is billions of won per year.

The police are looking into whether there is a price for what Nice Information and Communication paid Kakao Pay. Whether Kakao Pay requested the recruitment of franchisees was also included in the investigation.

The police deployed investigators to secure related data such as electronic records of the two companies. Kakao Pay is a comprehensive PinTech service company that provides payment and remittance through KakaoTalk, called the national messenger. Founded in April 2017, Kakao Pay's market capitalization reached 6.5 trillion won on the same day.

An official from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said, "We are currently investigating Kakao Pay and it is difficult to reveal other specific facts related to the investigation."

 

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