"Coin Refund Scam" Mobile Phone Spam Surges 68%

Total Spam Cases from January to August This Year Reach 280.41 Million
"Triple Penalty on Spam Profits" Legal Amendment Proposed

This year, the number of spam cases exceeded 280 million by August, marking an all-time high.

On the 18th, Hwang Jeong-ah, a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, received data titled 'Status of Mobile Phone Spam Reports and Detections' from the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA). According to the data, the total number of mobile phone spam cases from January to August this year reached 280.41 million (280.02 million reports and 389,336 detections). This represents a 68% surge compared to the same period last year and accounts for 95% of last year's total spam cases (295.5 million).

The cumulative number of spam cases from January to August by year are ▲30.86 million in 2021 ▲27.73 million in 2022 ▲167 million in 2023 ▲280.41 million in 2024, not only marking the highest ever this year but also showing an accelerating growth rate. In particular, although the government took measures in July, the number of spam cases in August this year still recorded 24.5 million, leading to concerns that the 'spam disaster' continues.

Under current law, if an information and communication service provider’s service is used for illegal spam and the provider fails to take necessary actions such as refusing to provide the service, they can be fined up to approximately 30 million KRW. Representative Hwang stated, "The profits from illegal spam transmission far exceed the penalties for violating the law, which is why the 'spam disaster' persists," and emphasized, "We will push for legal amendments to impose fines up to three times the profits gained from illegal activities to eradicate illegal spam."

In fact, Representative Hwang is reportedly preparing a partial amendment to the 'Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc.' that would impose fines up to three times the profits gained from violations on information and communication service providers who violate the law by sending illegal spam.

Meanwhile, recently, spam methods have diversified, including impersonating delivery services disguised as Chuseok gift shipments, impersonating companies such as Samsung Electronics, impersonating acquaintances' obituaries, promoting stock leading rooms, and impersonating cryptocurrency exchanges. If you receive illegal smishing messages or suspect infection by malicious apps, you can report to 'Voice Phishing Keeper.' You can contact the 118 Counseling Center (operated by KISA) without an area code for free 24-hour consultation.