[2020 National Audit] '9 Trillion Won' Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation Gift Certificates, Blind Spots in Forgery and Alteration Management

Graph of Net Currency Issuance and Gift Certificate Issuance Status from 2015 to 2019 (Unit: trillion KRW, % · Source: Bank of Korea, Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation). Provided by Representative Goh Yong-jin's Office

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Concerns have been raised that the 9 trillion won worth of gift certificates issued by the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation are in a blind spot for forgery and alteration management.

According to the National Assembly audit data received by Go Yong-jin, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea (Seoul Nowon Gap), the total number of gift certificates issued by the Minting Corporation from January to September was confirmed to be 304.88 million sheets, amounting to 8.4321 trillion won.

In particular, the scale of gift certificate issuance by the Minting Corporation has significantly increased from 229.51 million sheets worth 7.9462 trillion won in 2015 to 335.83 million sheets worth 9.4668 trillion won last year.

However, as the issuance scale increases, crimes and frauds targeting the blind spots in gift certificate forgery and alteration management are also rising, and Go Yong-jin argues that measures to respond to this are necessary.

Recently, crimes involving the reuse of the silver foil scratch feature applied to gift certificates have been rampant. The method involves peeling off the silver foil scratch from the gift certificate, registering it online, and then reapplying the silver foil to resell the gift certificate offline. Go Yong-jin is concerned that consumer damage from this will increase.

Go Yong-jin emphasized, “While forged and altered currency is centrally managed by the Bank of Korea, the management entity for gift certificates, which can be used almost like cash, is unclear, increasing the possibility of consumer damage. Institutional security measures to resolve these side effects are urgently needed.”