13,000 Illegal Loan Advertisement Phone Numbers Deactivated Last Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyo-jin] The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced on the 23rd that it received a total of 220,399 reports of illegal loan advertisements last year and requested the suspension of phone number usage for 13,244 cases where violations were confirmed.

Among the suspended numbers by type, 12,366 were mobile phones, 103 were internet phones, and 775 were landlines. The advertising media were leaflets with 11,054 cases, faxes 1,032 cases, text messages 593 cases, and internet/SNS 565 cases, in that order.

Cases of phone number suspension for illegal loan advertisements had been increasing until 2018 but decreased last year.

The FSS explained that this was due to the extension of the phone number suspension period from 90 days to one year starting in June last year, making it practically difficult to reuse phone numbers used for illegal loan advertisements.

The FSS urged special caution, noting that illegal loan companies that solicit loans via mobile text messages or faxes often impersonate financial companies or public institutions, so it is essential to verify with the relevant financial company or institution.

It should also be noted that all loan advertisements with interest rates exceeding 24% per annum (2% per month) are illegal. Illegal debt collection can be reported to the Illegal Private Loan Reporting Center (1332), where one can apply for a debtor representative to prevent further damage.

The FSS also urged people to verify whether loan advertisements through leaflets and other means are from legitimate loan companies.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.