"Affordable and Safe Contactless Transactions" Growing Used Goods Market in the COVID Era, Increasing Fraud Cases Too

58.6% of Adults Prefer Secondhand Transactions More Than Last Year
Contactless Deals and Low Prices Cited as Advantages
About 6,000 Annual Fraud Cases Reported
Experts Advise "Verify Seller Information Accurately Before Trading"

Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-eun] With the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and the strengthening of social infection prevention measures such as the activation of non-face-to-face interactions, online secondhand trading has become more active compared to the past. However, some fraudulent activities have occurred during transactions, requiring caution.

According to the secondhand trading platform 'Hello Market,' among 2,546 adult men and women, 58.6% chose 'secondhand trading' as the shopping channel whose preference increased compared to last year. Department stores and large marts recorded 8%, while offline select shops and specialty stores accounted for only 5.6%.

The most cited reason for the increased preference for secondhand trading was the 'impact of COVID-19,' chosen by 49% of respondents. Following that, 38% answered 'because the prices are cheap.'

Recently, the secondhand market has shown steady growth. The monthly active users of the secondhand trading application 'Danggeun Market' surpassed 10 million last September.

Market research firm Nielsen Korean Click reported that mobile secondhand trading users, which were around 2 million two years ago, increased more than fivefold to 10.9 million as of June this year.

The reason why the online secondhand market is gaining popularity seems to be because non-face-to-face transactions are possible and products can be purchased at relatively low prices amid the economic downturn caused by COVID-19.

A 24-year-old college student A, who frequently uses mobile secondhand trading, said, "Due to the impact of COVID-19, my part-time work hours were shortened, so my small pocket money decreased, but the advantage of secondhand trading is that prices are cheap, so I often buy necessary items secondhand."

A added, "Since I have been staying at home due to COVID-19, I recently organize and resell unused items at home to earn some pocket money. Especially this year, I have been using secondhand trading frequently, and it seems good, so I plan to continue using it actively."

Photo by Yonhap News

However, as secondhand trading becomes more active, cases of damage caused by secondhand fraud are also frequently occurring. In October, the number of fraud damage cases reported on the secondhand trading site 'Junggonara' reached about 500 per month on average. Approximately 6,000 fraud damage cases occur annually.

Recently, a man in his 30s in Cheongju was caught and sentenced to 1 year and 2 months in prison after deceiving about 60 people on an online secondhand marketplace from December last year to May this year by pretending to send goods and pocketing over 33 million won.

Also, a man in his 20s was arrested after using multiple IDs to post messages from February to recently, claiming to sell popular concert tickets planned by a general programming broadcasting company at prices higher than the original cost, receiving payments but not sending the products, thereby cheating about 190 people out of approximately 76 million won.

To prevent such secondhand trading damage, experts say it is important not to respond to suspicious transactions and to thoroughly verify seller information before trading.

Attorney Ahn Mi-hyun said on YTN Radio's 'Attorney Yang So-young's Counseling Center,' "If you look at secondhand trading site platforms, there are apps or widgets like 'The Cheat' and 'Cyber Cop.' By entering the seller's phone number or account number there, you can check whether this person has committed such crimes before. It is good to use that part to see if there is a history and choose transactions accordingly."

Regarding what to do if you fall victim to secondhand trading fraud, she said, "You should capture the posts the seller made on the secondhand trading site, the text messages exchanged, and note the accounts the seller provided, then file a criminal complaint. In fact, trading personally is risky, so both sellers and buyers need to be very cautious."