"The Amount Deducted Exceeds My Salary"… 'Sangtech-jok' Also Frustrated by the Timeff Incident

Purchasing Gift Certificates at Discounted Prices and Cashing Them In
Before the Enforcement of the Revised Electronic Financial Transactions Act, Damage Increases
Voices Point to 'Loopholes' Due to Lack of Regulation on Consignment Companies

"I'm on a business trip, but I can't breathe. The amount of money tied up is more than my monthly salary."

As the delay in seller settlements by TMON and WEMAKEPRICE causes increasing harm to consumers, purchasing customers are visiting WEMAKEPRICE headquarters in Samseong-dong, Seoul on the 25th, waiting to apply for refunds. Photo by Heo Younghan younghan@

Park (37), who lives in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, spoke with difficulty. Park started what is called 'Sangtech' after coming across related information in a financial technology community for office workers last year. Sangtech is a type of financial technology method where discounted gift certificates are purchased and then cashed out to make a profit. Although the profit margin is not large, it gained popularity mainly among people in their 20s and 30s who want to save even a small amount of money because it can reliably generate profits.

Last month, Park bought ten 50,000 KRW Book & Life gift certificates on Tmon at an 8% discount, paying 46,000 KRW each. He also purchased six 50,000 KRW Happy Money gift certificates at 46,000 KRW each. The total amount of money tied up due to the Tmon and Wemakeprice incident, including all gift certificates bought for Sangtech purposes, amounts to about 4 million KRW. Park said, "I didn't have big ambitions; I just started to tighten my belt and save a little money. I can't even show this to my coworkers, and I can't focus on work at all."

The settlement delay issue that started at Wemakeprice, an online shopping mall operated by Qoo10 Group headquartered in Singapore, is spreading to Tmon. On the 24th, citizens are passing by the Tmon building in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

As the damage to Sangtech users has snowballed due to the Tmon and Wemakeprice incident, calls for compensation are growing louder. Experts explain that since the revised Electronic Financial Transactions Act (EFTA), prepared after the 2021 'Merge Point incident,' has not yet been implemented, a 'legal vacuum' continues, making it difficult to receive institutional compensation for damages.

According to the related industry, Tmon sold Book & Life and Happy Money cultural gift certificates at an 8-10% discount from May to this month. Considering that the usual discount rate for gift certificates sold by e-commerce platforms is around 3%, this was an unprecedented level. In fact, the 'Book & Life 8% discount deal' conducted by Tmon last month sold out all the prepared quantities in one day. Experts believe that Tmon drastically lowered the price of gift certificates to secure insufficient funds aggressively.

Han (27), who started Sangtech for the first time two years ago, said, "When Tmon sold the 50,000 KRW Happy Money gift certificates for 46,000 KRW last month, the community said, 'This is scary now. Isn't this dangerous?'" He added, "It was called 'prepayment,' so even after payment, the gift certificates could only be used a month later. Despite many strange points like this, whenever a shocking deal appeared, I bought the maximum quantity allowed at once."

As the delay in seller settlements by TMON and WEMAKEPRICE causes increasing harm to consumers, purchasing customers are visiting WEMAKEPRICE headquarters in Samseong-dong, Seoul on the 25th to report their damages. Photo by Heo Younghan younghan@

Due to this incident, Sangtech users who lost up to tens of millions of KRW are venting their frustration, demanding compensation. Experts agree that if the revised EFTA had been implemented a little earlier, the damage could have been reduced. According to the revised EFTA scheduled to take effect on September 15, electronic financial business operators must separately manage 100% of prepaid balance if the prepaid charge issuance balance exceeds 3 billion KRW or the total annual issuance amount exceeds 50 billion KRW. The purpose is to prevent companies with insufficient funds from selling gift certificates to secure funds and then using them to pay other buyers in a 'Ponzi scheme' manner.

Seo Ji-yong, a professor at the Department of Business Administration at Sangmyung University, pointed out, "Currently, there are no regulations protecting prepaid charge funds. Even if the EFTA had been implemented, the damage could not have been completely avoided, but in the absence of such regulations, there would have been no acts of deceiving consumers so defenselessly."

Some voices argue that the revised EFTA is insufficient to regulate companies like Tmon that 'consign sell' gift certificates. The revised EFTA only mandates the deposit of prepaid charges for companies that issue gift certificates and cannot regulate consignment sellers like in this incident. Professor Seo explained, "The EFTA applies directly to entities that issue gift certificates, so it is difficult to regulate businesses that act as agents or consignees. There is no proper way to stop companies trying to secure funds by exploiting loopholes in the system."