Simple Payment Incidents Cause 220 Million Won in Damages by August... "Exceeding Last Year's Total"

"Consumer Damages Surge Not Only in Card Transactions
But Also in Simple Payment Services"

Recently, a series of financial incidents, including the Lotte Card hacking case, have occurred, and consumer damages in the field of simple payment services have also surged.

Kyeongho Chu, member of the People Power Party. Office of Kyeongho Chu

According to data submitted by Kyeho Chu, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the People Power Party, to the Financial Supervisory Service on September 30, there were 50 simple payment incidents and a total damage amount of 220.76 million won from January to August this year. This exceeds last year's total annual damage amount of 206.76 million won.

Looking at the yearly trend, simple payment damages surged from 86.05 million won in 2019 to 285.55 million won in 2020, then remained at 283.02 million won in 2021, 270.92 million won in 2022, and 270.78 million won in 2023. Although there was a slight decrease last year, the figure has turned upward again this year.

This year, the platform with the highest number of damages was Gmarket, with 22 cases and a total damage amount of 160.74 million won. Coupang Pay followed with 7 cases (30.08 million won), Bizplay with 6 cases (19.87 million won), Lotte Members with 3 cases (3.28 million won), and Viva Republica (Toss) with 3 cases (2.21 million won).

In one case, user information was stolen and used to make a large number of purchases for overseas amusement park tickets on Gmarket, resulting in the highest single damage amount of 29.7 million won.

Other incidents included the theft of 26.13 million won from Gmarket using the same method, and unauthorized transactions totaling 18.43 million won using a credit card registered with Coupang Pay.

In the past, simple payment incidents mostly occurred through messenger phishing or smishing. However, it has recently been found that many cases are now occurring through "unknown methods," with specific techniques not being identified. As financial scams become more sophisticated, consumers are suffering damages without even realizing it.

Kyeho Chu emphasized, "Financial consumer damages caused by various financial crimes are increasing," and urged, "Financial authorities and institutions must actively work to strengthen security measures and promptly establish remedies for victims."

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