A Supreme Court panel has revised sentencing guidelines to allow punishments as severe as life imprisonment for those convicted of organized fraud, such as home rental and voice phishing schemes, officials said Tuesday.

The Supreme Court’s sentencing committee made the revision during its plenary meeting the previous day, toughening sentencing standards for fraud convicts amid a rise in housing rental and voice phishing schemes that particularly target vulnerable individuals.

Under the revision, the recommended punishments for aggravated fraud convicts involving the swindling of 500 million won (US$364,830) to 5 billion won have been increased to four to eight years in prison.

Sentences for aggravated fraud involving amounts between 5 billion won and 30 billion won were toughened to six to 11 years. For aggravated fraud worth 30 billion won or more, the sentences were also increased to eight to 17 years.

The committee also escalated the maximum recommended sentence for the worst cases of aggravated orga
nized fraud to life imprisonment, increasing the sentencing range for aggravated fraud involving 30 billion won to 11 years to life in prison.

“The committee considered the need for stern punishments for high-value fraud and crimes targeting multiple people, which create numerous victims and are highly harmful to society,” the committee said.

The revision also made it more difficult to issue suspended sentences for fraud convicts and increased punishments for cases involving employees in specialized fields, such as insurance.

The revised sentencing guidelines will be finalized at a committee meeting in March next year, following public hearings and feedback from related state bodies.

Source: Yonhap News Agency