The police asked the justice ministry to ban the CEO of Qoo10 Group as well as the chiefs of the group’s two subsidiaries, TMON and WeMakePrice, from leaving the country amid the massive settlement failures by the two e-commerce platforms. 

The police filed for an emergency travel ban at 6:30 p.m. Monday against Qoo10 Group CEO Ku Young-bae, Qoo10 Korea CEO Mok Ju-young, TMON CEO Ryu Kwang-jin, and WeMakePrice co-CEO Ryu Hwa-hyun.  

The justice ministry, in an unusually swift response, issued the travel ban later in the day.

The police also launched an investigation on Monday afternoon, immediately after receiving a complaint from consumers who suffered damage from the delayed refunds by the two online shopping platforms. A group of consumers filed the complaint against Ku and four others, including the heads of TMON and WeMakePrice, for fraud, embezzlement and breach of trust.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office also formed a special investigation team over the case.