"Trust and Transfer Because They Are Financial Planning Experts"... Beware of Impersonation Scams

Impersonation of financial planners through fraudulent solicitation activities is on the rise. Photo by Korea FPSB

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] Jin-hyun Kim (45, pseudonym), who lives in Seoul, accessed a KakaoTalk open chat room through an internet advertisement. The operator, Mr. A, claimed to be an AFPK certificate holder. Mr. A showed his financial planning certificate through a business card and profile and requested Kim to deposit investment funds. However, when Kim directly verified with the Korea FPSB, it was found that Mr. A's certificate had been forged.

Recently, fraudulent activities impersonating certified financial planners have been rampant. This is due to the continued low-interest-rate environment and the activation of the stock market, which has increased the funds seeking investment opportunities. Since they lure investors by promising high returns, special caution from investors is required.

According to Korea FPSB on the 6th, scams claiming to be CFP or AFPK certificate holders and promising to grow money are trending. When face-to-face consultations are requested, they insist on non-face-to-face meetings, citing COVID-19 or busy schedules as excuses, and only use voice calls via Voice Talk.

These scams do not end with one-time transactions but increase the amount of fraud. They start by accepting small investments under 100,000 KRW and delivering high returns, then lure high-value investments exceeding 10 million KRW once trust is established.

Certificates are fabricated by stealing photos posted by actual certificate holders on social networking services (SNS) or websites. Considering the non-face-to-face nature, there are also cases of fraud by stealing others' certification cards.

A Korea FPSB official warned, “The authenticity of certificate holders can be verified by phone or directly on the Korea FPSB website,” and added, “Financial planners do not blindly promise to grow money or instruct clients to transfer money to third-party accounts first.”