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A restaurant owner has been caught today (June 10) for submitting AI-generated fake bank transfer receipts to a Ministry of Employment and Labor inspector to falsely claim that overdue wages had been paid to employees.
The Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office announced that it has filed a criminal complaint against the owner for forgery of private documents, uttering forged documents, and obstruction of justice by deception. The office is also considering requesting an arrest warrant for violations of the Labor Standards Act.
During a recent labor inspection, the Seoul Labor Office discovered that the owner, identified as A, who operates a large restaurant in Seoul, had failed to pay approximately 27 million won in wages to 38 current employees and 24 million won to 27 former employees, and subsequently issued an order for corrective action.
The restaurant operated by A runs six locations in Seoul and is known on social media as a popular dining spot.
A later submitted bank transfer receipts to the Labor Office, claiming to have complied with the corrective order. However, it was revealed that A had used AI to forge the receipts, despite failing to pay approximately 28 million won in overdue wages to 27 of the workers.
The Seoul Labor Office has initiated a criminal investigation for failure to comply with the corrective order and imposed a fine of 9 million won for the submission of fraudulent documents.
In addition, the office is considering applying for an arrest warrant for violations of the Labor Standards Act and has reported the owner to the police for charges such as forgery of private documents, which fall outside the scope of the Ministry of Labor's direct investigation.
Since last December, the Seoul Labor Office has been conducting targeted inspections on 44 workplaces suspected of "fake 3.3" employment—a practice where businesses classify workers as freelancers rather than employees to evade the Labor Standards Act—and uncovered the violations at this restaurant during the process.
Kwon Tae-sung, head of the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office, stated, "Forging documents to evade corrective orders during a labor inspection is a serious illegal act that intentionally deceives government agencies and directly undermines the government's supervisory functions." He added, "We will strictly punish this, not only for Labor Standards Act violations but also by mobilizing all available means in cooperation with the police."
The Seoul Labor Office announced that to prevent similar cases in the future, it will strengthen measures such as requiring the submission of corporate account transaction statements to cross-check against transfer receipts and directly verifying the receipt of overdue wages with the workers themselves.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.