Hayoungje "150,000 Cases of Illegal Phone Number Usage Detected in the Last 5 Years"

The Number of Compliance Cases for Stop Orders Reaches Only 55%

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] It has been revealed that the number of orders to suspend the use of illegally used phone numbers reached 150,000 over the past five years. Among these, only about 55% of the suspension orders were actually implemented.

According to data submitted by the Korea Radio Management Agency to Ha Young-je, a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee from the People Power Party, the total number of orders to suspend the use of illegally used phone numbers over the past five years was 149,778. In 2020, there were 32,642 cases, 42,034 cases in 2021, and as of the end of June this year, 12,926 cases were recorded.

Illegally used phone numbers refer to those used in advertisements violating the 'Loan Business Act,' phone numbers used in telecommunication financial fraud under the 'Telecommunication Fraud Damage Relief Act,' and phone numbers used in advertisements violating the 'Electronic Financial Transactions Act.' When local governments, prosecutors' offices, police agencies, the Financial Supervisory Service, and others identify illegally used phone numbers and request suspension to the Korea Radio Management Agency, the agency orders the relevant telecommunications companies to suspend those numbers.

Among these, phone numbers used for illegal loan advertisements accounted for 100,124 cases, representing 67% of the total, while those used for telecommunication financial fraud accounted for 48,322 cases, or 32% of the total.

On the other hand, during the same period, the number of suspension orders that were implemented totaled 83,078 cases, which is 55.5% of the total 149,778 cases. The number of penalties due to non-compliance included 11 administrative sanctions and 3 fines.

Ha Young-je, Member of the People Power Party

Assemblyman Ha Young-je stated, “Some companies are indiscriminately abusing illegal phone numbers, and these companies are often small-scale or have gone out of business, making contact impossible.” He emphasized, “Management and supervision of illegal phone numbers that cause public inconvenience and are used in financial fraud must be strengthened.”

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