Increase in Fake Famous Online Malls... Seoul City Warns "Beware of Scam Sites"

Many 'Online Mall Impersonation' Scams
Cash Payments Induced, Then No Products Sent

# Mr. A accessed an open market linked as the lowest price on a price comparison site to purchase an LED TV. Following the seller's guidance to inquire about stock on the product page before purchasing, he contacted the seller via KakaoTalk, who said there was no stock at the current open market and sent a link to another open market product page. Mr. A transferred 500,000 won. Later, when he clicked the company introduction menu at the bottom to verify, it connected to another company's site, and meanwhile, the seller's KakaoTalk was deactivated. So far, the product has not been delivered, nor has a refund been received.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government warned that cases of cash payments being induced on sites impersonating famous online malls such as home shopping in connection with open markets, then stealing money without sending products, are increasing and urged caution.

According to Seoul City on the 19th, the number of reported scam victim sites to the city’s e-commerce center from January to September this year totaled 162. This is four times more than last year (42 sites) and twice the number of scam victim sites (78 sites) reported over the four years from 2019 to last year.

Actual online shopping mall domain (left) and impersonated online shopping mall domain (right)

The reported scam sites were broadly classified into three types: sites impersonating famous online malls, scam sites selling exhibition products at discounted prices, and sites impersonating general online malls.

Among these, sites impersonating famous online malls accounted for the most cases with 218 incidents (103 sites), and the damage amount was estimated to be about 140 million won.

Sellers on sites impersonating famous online malls registered products at the lowest price on open markets, then when consumers purchased the products, they canceled the purchase citing lack of stock and induced repurchase on pre-made impersonation sites, thereby committing fraud.

The city explained that on online open markets, sellers cannot receive payment until the product is delivered to the consumer, making theft impossible; therefore, the fraud involves luring consumers to 'fake sites' impersonating famous online malls to induce payment.

In particular, over 90% of related damages occurred through specific online open markets where even non-business operators can easily register by only completing identity verification, and transactions were concentrated during weekends when monitoring is lax.

Seoul City urged people to familiarize themselves in advance with scam types and prevention tips, as these scammers cleverly commit fraud by directly stealing business information, images, and logos of famous online malls while making subtle changes such as adding alphabets or special characters to official website addresses to make detection difficult. They also advised not to purchase if sellers on online open markets cancel orders and then, using bait like sold-out or additional discounts, inform separate sites via text messages or messengers to induce cash payments.

Kim Kyung-mi, Director of Fair Economy at Seoul City, said, "As scam methods are becoming increasingly sophisticated, special caution is required," and added, "We will work with the industry to prevent damage by strengthening seller identity verification on open markets and monitoring abnormal transaction cancellations."

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