Commercial Banks Face Nearly 1 Trillion Won in Voice Phishing Losses... Banks to Bear Compensation Responsibility Starting Next Year

2018~2022 5 Years
Secondary Financial Nonghyup Also 297.9 Billion KRW

Compensation Payments Decreased by 45 Billion KRW in 5 Years
From Next Year, Banks Must Bear Up to 50%

The amount of damage caused by voice phishing through major domestic banks has approached 1 trillion won over the past five years. Starting next year, banks will also be held liable for compensation if their efforts to prevent such incidents are deemed insufficient.

According to data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service and the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation to Yoon Jae-gap, a member of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the amount of damage caused by voice phishing at major commercial banks from 2018 to 2022 totaled 871.6 billion won. Shinhan Bank recorded the highest amount at 241.3 billion won, followed by Kookmin Bank (226.9 billion won), Woori Bank (206.1 billion won), and Nonghyup Bank (197.3 billion won).

The amount of damage caused by voice phishing through Nonghyup accounts, which belong to the secondary financial sector, was 297.9 billion won, exceeding the damage scale of each commercial bank. By region, the damage through Nonghyup in Gyeonggi Province was the highest at 119.3 billion won, followed by Seoul (60.6 billion won), Gyeongnam (48.4 billion won), Gyeongbuk (39.9 billion won), Chungnam (30.1 billion won), and Jeju (9.5 billion won).

The amount of refunded voice phishing damage has decreased by more than 45 billion won over the past five years. According to data submitted by the office of Hwang Un-ha of the Democratic Party of Korea to the Financial Supervisory Service, the amount of refunded voice phishing damage under the "Telecommunication Fraud Damage Relief Act" reported to commercial banks (including internet-only banks, excluding mutual finance) decreased from 70.9 billion won in 2018 to 25.6 billion won in 2022. The Telecommunication Fraud Damage Relief Act stipulates that when a voice phishing victim applies for damage relief, the amount of voice phishing damage that was suspended from payment after the debt extinguishment process must be refunded.

Starting January next year, banks will share up to 50% of the voice phishing damage. Until now, customers bore the full damage, but now banks will compensate for losses according to the responsibility-sharing standards. On the 5th, the Financial Supervisory Service signed an agreement titled "Agreement for the Promotion of Non-face-to-face Financial Accident Prevention" with 19 domestic banks, which includes this content. If a customer without an application (app) usage history was not detected as an abnormal transaction or if the malicious app detection system did not operate, it is considered insufficient effort to prevent accidents, and the bank will share 20-50% of the damage. The compensation ratio may vary depending on actual cases after implementation.

The Financial Supervisory Service explained, "Until now, in cases such as exposure of identification cards or installation of malicious apps, users were often considered grossly negligent and thus unable to receive compensation," adding, "From now on, victims of financial accidents can receive compensation quickly through voluntary compensation procedures without going through litigation."

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