Agency Employee Who Fled After Taking Out Loans Using Customers' Names... Warning on Mobile Phone Activation Fraud

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] Mr. Go Ju-cheon (83, pseudonym) opened a new mobile phone contract after an employee A at a mobile phone agency promised a discount on fees. During the process of registering a payment method, A asked Mr. Go for his account and credit card PINs, claiming they were necessary, and obtained his personal information. Afterwards, A used mobile banking from a financial institution to take out a loan in Mr. Go’s name and then disappeared.

Recently, there have been ongoing cases of non-face-to-face loan and deposit withdrawal fraud using customers’ financial information stolen at mobile phone agencies nationwide. Financial supervisory authorities have also warned that special caution is needed to prevent such damage.

Fraudsters mainly exploit the fact that they can temporarily possess a customer’s phone registered under the customer’s name and that customers do not know what information is required for phone activation. Most methods involve obtaining financial information such as account and credit card PINs, which are unnecessary for activation, and then taking out loans or withdrawing deposits. In particular, elderly people with weak financial security awareness and full-time housewives are the primary victims of such fraud.

The Financial Supervisory Service advised that since it is difficult to demand compensation from financial companies even if damage occurs after personal financial information is exposed, special attention must be paid to information management. Personal financial information that is not necessary for phone activation must never be exposed for any reason. Also, identification cards and mobile phones registered under one’s name should always be kept under one’s control.

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