Beware of Gift Card Scams During Seol Holiday

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunju Lee] As the Lunar New Year holiday approaches, concerns about gift certificate fraud are increasing, requiring consumers to be cautious.

According to the Korea Consumer Agency on the 21st, there were 1,139 cases of relief requests related to gift certificates over the past three years. Among them, 221 cases, accounting for 19.4%, were reported during January and February, which include the Lunar New Year holiday. During this period, when demand for gift certificates as holiday presents rises, fraud related to gift certificate sales is more likely to occur.

The most common reason for relief requests was "refusal to use due to expiration of validity period," accounting for 64.1% (730 cases). This was followed by "refund refusal" at 10.2% (116 cases) and "refusal to use within the validity period" at 9.0% (103 cases). Accordingly, the Fair Trade Commission recommends that consumers must check the validity period, refund policies, and usage conditions before purchasing gift certificates. In particular, mobile gift certificates often have shorter validity periods compared to paper gift certificates, so it is necessary to check the validity period more carefully before purchase.

After purchasing gift certificates, consumers should use them within the validity period. If it is difficult to use them within the period, they should inquire with the business operator (seller, issuer, franchise, etc.) about the possibility of extending the validity period before it expires. If the purchased gift certificate is not used within the validity period and it has been less than five years since the issue date, consumers can receive a refund of 90% of the purchase amount, so they should check the issue date and request a refund. Mobile gift certificates provided through events, promotions, or holiday gifts may be issued through business-to-business (B2B) transactions. In such cases, unlike purchased gift certificates, the validity period is short, usually 1-2 months, and extension or refund is difficult, so they must be used within the deadline.

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