Supreme Court: Cannot Punish Giving a Check Card to a Voice Phishing Scammer Claiming "Will Provide a Loan"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The Supreme Court has ruled that if someone was deceived by a voice phishing organization member who said, "You can get a loan worth tens of millions of won," and that a check card was needed to pay the loan principal and interest, and lent the card, it cannot be considered that the loan was given as a "consideration," and thus the person cannot be punished for violating the Electronic Financial Transactions Act.

On the 4th, the Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Park Jeonghwa) announced that it overturned the lower court's ruling that sentenced Mr. A to 1 year and 6 months in prison on appeal for violating the Electronic Financial Transactions Act and other charges, and remanded the case to the Jeju District Court.

Mr. A was prosecuted for delivering a check card linked to his bank account under his name to a voice phishing organization member via courier and providing the password in June 2019.

At that time, the organization member contacted Mr. A, saying, "You can get a loan of more than 20 million won. If you deposit the loan interest into your account for interest repayment, I will withdraw it, so please send me the check card," according to the investigation.

Article 6, Paragraph 3 of the current Electronic Financial Transactions Act stipulates, "No one shall lend or borrow access media for electronic financial transactions, including check cards, while receiving, demanding, or promising consideration."

The first trial court sentenced Mr. A to a fine of 3 million won, stating, "It is an unfavorable fact that the lent access media was actually used in the voice phishing crime."

The second trial court also found Mr. A guilty. The court at that time stated, "Mr. Kim's 'act of lending access media' and the 'consideration in the form of benefits from the loan' granted as a result are closely and directly related," and "He lent the access media while promising to receive consideration." Furthermore, the court combined this charge with Mr. A's other fraud charges and sentenced him to 1 year and 6 months in prison.

However, the Supreme Court ordered a re-examination and judgment on the "violation of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act" charge. The court stated, "Mr. A was deceived by the organization member who said the card was necessary to pay the loan principal and interest and gave the card," and "It is difficult to conclude that he lent the access media as consideration for the loan or had such recognition when handing over the card."

It added, "The lower court erred in its legal interpretation regarding the act of lending access media while promising consideration under Article 6, Paragraph 3 of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act and the intent, which affected the judgment."

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