Consumer Agency Reports Increase in Consumer Consultations Related to Similar Investment Advisory and Stocks

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] As interest in stock investment increases, consultations related to quasi-investment advisory and stock-related consumer issues have also risen.

On the 23rd, the Korea Consumer Agency and the Korea Consumer Organization Council announced that the number of consumer consultations received at the 1372 Consumer Counseling Center last month was 42,777, a 20.4% decrease compared to the previous month. Compared to February of last year, it decreased by 36.5%.

The category with the highest number of consultations last month was mobile phone services with 1,561 cases, followed by quasi-investment advisory (1,512 cases), and fitness centers (1,196 cases). The reasons for consultations were quality and after-sales service (A/S) (24.8%), contract cancellation and penalty fees (23.0%), and contract non-fulfillment (12.9%), in that order.

Among these, consultations related to quasi-investment advisory increased by 21.3% compared to the previous month, showing the highest growth rate. Stocks (249 cases) and mobile game services (314 cases) followed with increases of 15.3% and 3.6%, respectively.

The quasi-investment advisory business is an industry that provides investment advice for a fee through social network services (SNS), internet broadcasting, text messages, blogs, etc., targeting an unspecified large number of people. The Korea Consumer Agency reported that many consumer complaints regarding quasi-investment advisory consultations involved companies demanding excessive penalty fees when services were terminated prematurely.

For stocks, many inquiries were about whether their accounts were included in events conducted by each securities company, and for mobile game services, there were many requests from minors wanting refunds for game items purchased using their parents' accounts.

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