Seoul Police Agency Issues Emergency "School Bell" for Youth Gambling and Proxy Payments

Responding to Increasing Youth Gambling and Proxy Payments
Relay Challenge Featuring Ma Dong-seok and Jung Hae-in

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced on the 19th that it will issue an ‘Emergency School Bell’ to respond to youth gambling and proxy payment activities.

The Emergency School Bell is a system that disseminates real-time warnings and response guidelines to schools and parents whenever major youth-related issues arise. Last year, it was issued four times in total, including twice for the Gangnam drug consumption incident, once for a murder threat post, and once for youth gambling.

Actor Ma Dong-seok participating in the 'Youth Gambling Eradication Relay Challenge'.
[Photo by Seoul Police Agency]

This Emergency School Bell includes not only illegal cyber gambling but also issues related to proxy payments, which have recently become a social problem.

Proxy payment refers to the act of lending about 100,000 won to people who urgently need money and collecting it back with high interest in a short period. Recently, advertisements for proxy payments have rapidly spread through social networking services (SNS), and several cases have been confirmed where youths misuse this method to raise funds for gambling.

From January to April this year, the number of youth gambling offenders arrested in Seoul alone was 17, an increase of 183.3% compared to the same period last year, highlighting the growing severity of youth gambling. In March, there was an incident where a middle school student lost 16 million won in a month through cyber gambling and then stole items and used proxy payments worth about 3 million won to raise gambling funds.

Along with issuing the Emergency School Bell, the police will also conduct a ‘Survey on Youth Gambling and Proxy Payments’ at all schools in the Seoul area. This survey will be conducted over two months from the 20th of this month to July 19th, and students can participate during morning or afternoon homeroom periods or during crime prevention education sessions led by School Police Officers (SPOs).

Furthermore, the police will strengthen crackdowns and investigations against operators of illegal online gambling sites and proxy payment services. In collaboration with the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, the Financial Supervisory Service, and the Korea Center on Gambling Problems Prevention and Treatment, they will produce educational materials for preventing youth gambling and proxy payment crimes, and focus on counseling and treatment to prevent relapse among addicted youths.

Meanwhile, the ‘Youth Gambling Eradication Relay Challenge’ promoted by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency since March 17th will continue. So far, participants have included Cho Ji-ho, Commissioner of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Oh Se-hoon, Mayor of Seoul, Cho Hee-yeon, Superintendent of Education, as well as actors Ma Dong-seok and Jung Hae-in. This challenge is open to all citizens to participate via SNS until September 17th.

Cho Ji-ho, Commissioner of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, stated, “Youth gambling and proxy payments are serious social problems that destroy the youth, who are the future of our society, and their families. To fundamentally resolve these issues, we will strengthen not only crackdowns and investigations but also adopt a multidimensional and comprehensive approach that includes prevention, victim support, counseling, and treatment, along with active cooperation with related agencies. We hope that the issuance of this Emergency School Bell will serve as an opportunity for all citizens to recognize the seriousness of youth gambling and proxy payments.”