Tag: blackmarket

For some reason I bet there is far more than one person involved in black-marketing, it appears this guy just made it super obvious:

A U.S. military retiree has been banned from bases in South Korea over allegations of buying excessive duty-free goods and black marketing, officials said Friday.

The move came nearly four months after U.S. Forces Korea, the main command on the peninsula, lifted monthly commissary purchase limits and eased other shopping restrictions intended to prevent such infractions.

The retiree, who lives in South Korea but was not otherwise identified, was banned Dec. 10 “from all U.S. military installations and facilities in (South Korea) for 10 years, for excessive purchasing of duty free goods and black marketing,” according to a post on the Camp Humphreys Facebook page.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

I guess this change really doesn’t matter because the blackmarketers always seem to get what they need regardless of what AAFES and the commissaries do:

 The U.S. military has lifted monthly commissary purchase limits and eased other restrictions on shoppers at base stores in South Korea.

The new policy, which took effect Wednesday, also allows even patrons who don’t have purchasing privileges to enter commissaries and department store-style exchanges, although they’re not allowed to buy anything.

The change came as U.S. Forces Korea, the main command for some 28,500 troops based on the divided peninsula, is trying to make it a more attractive assignment.

However, limits remain as USFK seeks to prevent black market sales of goods sold on base. Alcohol sales, for example, will continue to be restricted.

Authorized shoppers also must show a military ID or ration card at the cash register, according to the new policy that was announced in a Sept. 11 memo signed by Air Force Maj. Gen. Stephen Williams, USFK chief of staff.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but some of the biggest blackmarket schemes in the past have involved AAFES and commissary employees. If it gets too bad I guess USFK could always send in the clowns again.

If you have ever wondered how much money is to be made black marketing items from a USFK PX this article should give you some idea:

Camp Long soldiers seeking anything beyond basic food and living products must now take one extra step before shopping — to catch a bus to Camp Eagle.

The remote installation’s Army and Air Force Exchange Service store closed Sept. 14, leaving the roughly 150 Camp Long-based soldiers waiting for an hourly shuttle bus to ride the seven miles to Eagle. […]

Officials say the store hemorrhaged money until it bled to death: Total sales dropped from about $2.77 million in 2004 to about $2.17 million in 2005. Sales dropped again to about $1.61 million in 2006 and, as of Sept. 10, sales for 2007 were only about $172,000, according to AAFES officials.

That meant earnings of $584,145 in 2004; $229,897 in 2005; $66,181 in 2006; and a loss of $16,919 for this year as of Sept. 10.

Army Maj. Bruce Townley, installation commander for Long and Eagle, said the reason the store lost so much money was that authorities busted a major black-market ring there last year. [Jimmy Norris, Stars & Stripes]

Here is my prior posting on the Camp Long black marketing ring.

The Camp Long PX is a small PX and was able to make $2.77 million in sales in 2004 and then once the black marketing ring was caught and shut down sales dropped to $172,000 this year.  That is a difference of $2,598,000 dollars.  Just think how much money the larger PXs and especially the commissaries are bringing in for the black marketers?  The amounts of money being made is mind boggling.

Is it any wonder why the AAFES employees black market when there is this much money to be made?  Additionally the punishments if you are caught are so light the black marketers really have very little to lose and a whole lot to gain.  For example the manger of the Camp Long PX received a year in jail but since he has been black marketing for years he is most likely a millionaire now.  A store employee received only a 10 month suspended sentence.  Who knows how much money he saved up during his time black marketing.

Since General Bell took over there seems to be an increased effort to crackdown on the black marketing, but this does beg the question of why a crackdown did not come long ago especially when the black marketers are so easy to identify.  I think that is a can of worms nobody wants to open now.

Here is something that is no shocker to those of us who have spent plenty of time in USFK:

One man is in custody and three more face charges in connection with a black-marketing operation that was being run out of an Army and Air Force Exchange Service store at Camp Long, near Wonju, South Korea, authorities said Wednesday.

The case was a result of a yearlong investigation and involved more than 21,000 cases of beer from AAFES, according to Kim Jong-mu, a Seoul-based South Korean customs officer who is the case’s senior investigator.

The duty-free beer was driven off base in a U.S. government vehicle and sold to middlemen, who in turn resold it on the South Korean market, he said.

The four suspects in the case were AAFES employees, he said.

AAFES employees are really the brains behind the black marketing scams in Korea. Here is how these criminals have been pulling off their scam:

The 21,300 cases of beer believed to have been smuggled over the past year was valued at 700 million won, or about $750,000. Kim said investigators believe the suspects have been involved in black marketing for many years.

The Camp Long smuggling was done by loading cases into a vehicle with USFK plates and driving the beer to a middleman waiting off base in an identical vehicle with South Korean license plates, Kim said. Then the plates were switched and the beer was delivered to liquor merchants in Seoul’s Namdaemun Market, he said.

They black marketed $750,000 in just beer, imagine how much they are making from Spam, ox tails, and other popular food items as well. I’m willing to be their black marketing ring was bringing in close to $1 million a year and they have been getting away with this for years. This is a huge amount of money and this is just from Camp Long.