[Illegal Loan Hotbed SNS] 'Illegal Loans' Hidden on Instagram... No Exceptions for the Elderly

Instagram '#daechul' Hashtag Hits 1.52 Million
Strategy to Break Barriers by Posting Everyday Photos Together
Offline Voice Phishing Targeting Elderly May Shift to SNS

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] Lee Seon-je (29, pseudonym), who had borrowed money at high interest rates from secondary financial institutions due to urgent financial needs, came across an advertisement for debt refinancing loans on Instagram last month. The advertisement page featured photos of the loan consultant’s face and daily life, as well as conversations with customers. After seeing the post and thinking “this doesn’t seem like an illegal loan,” Lee sent the consultant her ID card, resident registration transcript, and financial transaction history for the past three months through KakaoTalk open chat. A few days later, a 10 million won overdraft account was opened in her name, but the money disappeared, leaving only an empty account, and the consultant vanished without a trace. It was only then that Lee realized it was all a scam.

Loan scams that deceive people in urgent situations like Lee by making them take on debt and then stealing their money are rampant on social networking services (SNS).

On the 22nd, searching for the word “loan” on Instagram yielded as many as 1.52 million hashtags. Keywords like “loan for unemployed” or “urgent loan” also returned hundreds of thousands of results. On Facebook, entering the same search terms flooded the feed with posts claiming that even unemployed or low-credit individuals born in 2002 or later could get loans up to 30 million won on the same day.

These scams typically disguise themselves as guides for government-supported low-income financial products like the Sunshine Loan, or approach users by pretending to be consultants affiliated with financial cooperative organizations. They use images of the Taegeukgi (Korean flag) that resemble government logos or cleverly alter names like “Integrated Low-Income Financial Support Center” to “Unified Low-Income Financial Support Center” to lure users. Some even partially use names of financial companies like “IBK Loan” or “Complete OK Loan” to appear as legitimate businesses.

Posting Daily Photos with “Not a Scam”…Elderly, Who Use Smartphones and SNS Frequently, Also at Risk

Recently, many have started posting not only financial-related posts but also casual daily photos to lower users’ guard. Online communities have been flooded with complaints from victims saying things like “I didn’t suspect it was a scam because they showed their face.” Some illegal loan companies have even brazenly operated with phrases like “Be careful as scams such as voice phishing are rampant these days.” With voice phishing texts and calls already rampant, SNS has become a hotbed for illegal loan advertisements, raising concerns.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service, last year, 298,937 illegal loan advertisements were collected and detected, an increase of 58,649 cases (24.4%) from the previous year’s 240,288 cases. The FSS requested the suspension of 11,188 phone numbers and the deletion of 5,225 internet posts among these. The number of deletion requests decreased by 34.8% compared to a year earlier. The FSS explained that the main reasons are a decrease in reports and increasingly sophisticated methods making it difficult to secure evidence.

In particular, as SNS usage among middle-aged and older adults gradually increases, there are concerns that voice phishing targeting the elderly, which was rampant offline, is spreading to SNS. Professor Choi Jin-bong of the Department of Journalism and Broadcasting at Sungkonghoe University warned, “Exposure to these scams has become frequent even among the elderly, and smartphones and SNS have become familiar tools for them. The phishing approaches are friendly and meticulous, so the risks and damages can only increase.”

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