Hundreds of billions of won in counterfeit gift certificates found in freezer warehouse where missing woman’s body was discovered

A freezer warehouse in Paju where a woman in her 60s was found frozen after her death also contained counterfeit department-store gift certificates worth hundreds of billions of won, according to police.

Police are investigating the café’s male operator, identified as a man in his 30s, on suspicion of luring and killing the woman. The Uijeongbu District Court’s Goyang branch issued a warrant for his detention on the 6th, and he reportedly admitted the allegations during questioning.

Investigators are examining where the forged certificates came from, whether they had been circulated, and whether accomplices were involved. The suspect reportedly operated the café while also buying and selling gift certificates for cash. He and the woman met at the café on the 3rd to discuss a gift-certificate transaction, and investigators believe they had not known each other previously.

CCTV footage from the café reportedly shows the two entering the freezer warehouse together, followed by the suspect leaving alone. Police have not determined whether he killed the woman inside and left her body there, or confined her in the warehouse, causing her death. An autopsy and further investigation will examine the cause of death and the sequence of events.

The woman’s daughter reported her missing to Seoul’s Yeongdeungpo Police Station at 12:06 a.m. on the 4th. Paju police took over the case at 2:10 a.m. and tracked her movements. Officers arrested the suspect in a parking lot in Yeongdeungpo at 2:31 p.m. and found the woman’s body in the café’s freezer warehouse five minutes later. The warehouse is a container-like structure of about 30 square meters beside the main café building. The café, which opened in 2019, stopped operating after the suspect reportedly told employees not to come to work from the 3rd.