Over 60,000 Online Crimes Annually... Police Have No Statistics on Scalping and Counterfeit Transactions

No Proper Punishment Clause for Online Scalping
Unable to Grasp Actual Condition of 3 Trillion Won Counterfeit Market

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] Although online fraud is rampant, it has been revealed that the police have not even secured proper statistics.

According to the National Police Agency on the 12th, the number of online secondhand transaction fraud offenders was 60,224 in 2018, 72,935 in 2019, 93,690 in 2020, and 66,134 in 2021. This year, 23,909 people have been caught from January to May.

While there are statistics on secondhand transaction fraud cases, there are no separate statistics regarding the recent issues of online ticket scalping or counterfeit goods transactions. When the National Police Agency was asked for the status of detection and punishment of online ticket scalping and counterfeit goods transactions, the response was that "they are not separately managed, so it is difficult to provide." This contrasts with the dark web, which has become a hotbed of crime such as the distribution of child and youth pornography and trafficking of drugs and weapons, where a dedicated team has been formed to respond.

Despite the fact that ticket scalping for soccer matches held domestically is openly traded online this year, thanks to the performance of soccer player Son Heung-min, no sanctions have been imposed. This trend has continued from last month's national team A-match to this month's visit of the English professional soccer team Tottenham Hotspur.

With concerts by singers Psy and Lim Young-woong scheduled, ticket fraud damages are rapidly increasing mainly on secondhand trading platforms such as Junggonara and Danggeun Market. However, there are no appropriate legal provisions to punish online ticket scalping, making it difficult to compile related statistics.

Online counterfeit goods transactions are also problematic. So-called "jjaktung" (knockoff) luxury goods transactions are rampant, but there are no records of arrests or punishments related to this by the police. The industry estimates that the damage amount last year alone was about 3 trillion won, but the police have not even properly grasped the actual situation.

The number of online counterfeit product crackdowns separately compiled by the Korean Intellectual Property Office has been on the rise: 121,536 cases in 2019, 126,542 cases in 2020, and 171,606 cases in 2021.

After our report, a police official explained belatedly, "Since there are no proper regulations for ticket scalping occurring online, we are promoting special crackdowns so that offenders can be punished under charges such as obstruction of business," and "Online counterfeit goods transactions are also managed under trademark law violations, and crackdown statistics are managed by the National Police Agency's investigation department."

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