1,172 Cases of False and Exaggerated Real Estate Advertisements Detected... "Plan to Impose Fines"

Multiple Violations of Disclosure Obligations and False or Exaggerated Advertising
Increasing Illegal Activities via YouTube and Other SNS
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport "False and Exaggerated Advertising Will Be Punished"

A property listing posted at a real estate agency in Seoul. Not related to the article below / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

The government conducted a survey on false and exaggerated real estate advertisements in the second quarter of this year and detected a total of 1,172 violations.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 2nd that it detected a total of 1,172 cases through online monitoring of real estate brokerage listings to reduce consumer damage caused by false and exaggerated real estate advertisements.

This survey was conducted through 'basic monitoring' of advertisements reported and received by the Real Estate Advertisement Market Surveillance Center during the second quarter of this year, and the third round of 'occasional monitoring' focused on real estate advertisements near university and academy districts.

Basic monitoring is a survey conducted every quarter on advertisements reported and received through the surveillance center. The second quarter monitoring targeted 1,899 advertisements reported for reasons such as violations of disclosure obligations, false or exaggerated advertisements, and unqualified advertisements.

Among these, excluding advertisements that were normal or difficult to verify violations based on the reports, 1,029 advertisements were suspected of actual violations.

There were 4,906 regulatory violations found in the 1,029 cases, with violations of disclosure obligations being the most frequent at 4,313 cases (87.9%), followed by unfair labeling and advertising at 503 cases (10.3%), and violations by advertisers at 90 cases (1.8%).

Violations of disclosure obligations refer to failure to properly disclose information such as broker details, area, price, and floor number. Unfair labeling and advertising include false listings and deceptive or exaggerated advertisements.

A property listing posted at a real estate agency in Seoul. Not related to the article below / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Occasional monitoring is conducted by selecting investigation targets as needed. This time, a survey was conducted in July and August on 903 brokerage advertisements near university and academy districts such as Sinchon, Daehakro, Sillim, and Noryangjin in Seoul, where demand increases during the new semester and vacation periods.

During this process, the Ministry of Land detected 143 advertisements suspected of regulatory violations.

For the detected violations, local governments with jurisdiction will conduct final verification and take measures such as imposing fines in accordance with the law.

The number of reports received through the surveillance center during this basic monitoring averaged about 20.9 per day, showing a continuous decreasing trend compared to previous monitoring efforts.

However, the number of suspected violation advertisements is increasing again. In particular, the proportion of suspected violation advertisements on SNS platforms such as YouTube is gradually increasing. This appears to be due to the increased use of SNS and the relatively weak management characteristics of SNS.

Han Jeong-hee, Director of the Real Estate Industry Division at the Ministry of Land, said, "About one year after the system was implemented in August last year, the average daily number of reports is decreasing, indicating that the system is settling in," and added, "We hope that the awareness that false and deceptive advertisements will definitely be punished will take root."

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