FSS: "Batch Account Suspension at Branches... Eradicating Voice Phishing"

On the 24th, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced that it will improve the system to allow customers to apply for a blanket payment suspension on their own accounts at branch offices in order to reduce voice phishing damage.

Until now, blanket payment suspensions could only be applied for through the Financial Settlement Service’s integrated account management service website and mobile app, limiting accessibility for financially vulnerable groups such as the elderly.

Kim Mi-young, Deputy Director, stated at the '2023 Financial Consumer Protection Division Financial Supervision Briefing' held at the FSS in the afternoon that they will strengthen financial consumer protection so that consumers can feel the enhanced consumer protection system in the financial field. Deputy Director Kim emphasized, "Considering the trends of high inflation, high interest rates, low growth, and aging population, efforts to resolve financial difficulties for vulnerable groups are urgently needed," adding, "Illegal private loans and voice phishing may become more rampant, so we will focus on eradicating financial crimes."

The FSS plans to develop voluntary prevention effort evaluation indicators to encourage financial companies’ efforts to prevent voice phishing and introduce an internal control evaluation system for this. In addition, when new types of financial fraud occur, the FSS will share information with the financial sector in real time to enable financial companies to respond quickly to new financial fraud schemes.

This year, the FSS plans to check whether the Financial Consumer Protection Act is operating smoothly in the field through financial consumer protection performance evaluations and mystery shopping. It also added that it will strictly review terms and conditions to prevent consumer rights violations related to the introduction of new types of products and services.

Regarding win-win finance, the FSS announced that it will increase the supply of low-income financial products such as Sae-hee-mang Holssi and 햇살론15 by 600 billion KRW, expanding the scale to 7 trillion KRW.

In addition, the FSS stated that it will classify dispute complaints by type and handle them collectively at the Dispute Mediation Committee to resolve disputes quickly. To enhance financial companies’ own complaint management capabilities, it will strengthen communication with the industry by interviewing Chief Consumer Officers (CCOs) of companies with frequent complaints.

To eradicate the continuously increasing insurance fraud, the FSS plans to strengthen cooperation with the police, the National Health Insurance Service, and others through the 'Insurance Crime Government Joint Task Force.' Furthermore, it announced that it will strengthen government-wide cooperation to eradicate financial-related livelihood crimes by promptly investigating illegal private loans and immediately shutting down illegal sites.