[2021 National Audit] Sharp Increase in Illegal Financial Advertisements This Year... Need for Proactive Response from Financial Supervisory Service

Over 110,000 Illegal Financial Advertisements in 5 Years... Steadily Increasing Every Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] This year, illegal financial advertisements have surged, raising calls for proactive measures from financial authorities.

According to the 'Status of Requests for Action on Illegal Financial Advertisements' submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) to Kim Byung-wook, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the FSS has collected and requested action on over 110,000 illegal financial advertisements in the past five years.

The number of illegal financial advertisement actions recorded by the FSS has maintained an average of over 20,000 cases annually and has steadily increased each year. Notably, this year, by July, the number reached 21,070 cases, close to last year's 21,829 cases, raising awareness of the issue.

Specifically, unregistered lending accounted for 87,431 cases, making up 76% of the total. This was followed by work loans at 7,214 cases, cashing out small payments via mobile phones at 5,383 cases, personal credit information trading at 4,899 cases, bank account trading at 4,582 cases, and credit card cashing at 4,077 cases.

In 2017, out of a total of 14,938 cases, 14,076 were unregistered lending advertisements, with other types being only a few cases. However, from 2018 onwards, detections and actions on other types of advertisements increased, and recently, new types such as similar investment advisory services have been added.

Rep. Kim stated, "Illegal financial advertisements are surging in line with the recent boom in investment activation," adding, "As the types of illegal financial advertisements diversify and advertisements in regulatory blind spots increase significantly, cooperation with related agencies such as the police and proactive, dynamic measures by the FSS are necessary."