Fraudulent Investment Groups on SNS Using Celebrity Impersonation
National Police Agency Reports Damages of 237.1 Billion KRW
Recently, fraud crimes impersonating celebrities, influencers, and businesspeople on social networking services (SNS) and other online platforms have not been disappearing.
Unauthorized use of singer Kim Jong-min's portrait rights in false advertising by a company. KBS '1 Night 2 Days' broadcast screen, company website capture
On the 30th, the Economic Crime Investigation Division of the National Police Agency announced the results of a special crackdown on illegal stock investment inducements, including celebrity impersonation fraud, from September 2023 to February last year, revealing that there were 2,517 cases of damage, with losses amounting to 237.1 billion KRW.
Most of the posts were found to be concentrated on social networking services (SNS). Recently, with the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as deepfake image synthesis and voice synthesis, a typical method involves using celebrities with high public recognition to induce people to join investment-related leading chat rooms.
In one recent fraud case, a company used a photo of singer Kim Jong-min and advertised a "special event for yield," stating that "an additional yield will be paid for deposits exceeding 20 million KRW." Kim Jong-min’s agency stated, "The company is abusing Kim Jong-min’s credibility and inducing investments under the pretext of profits, so we have decided to take strong legal action to prevent further victims."
In March of last year, at a press conference held at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, calling for the resolution of online phishing crimes impersonating celebrities, broadcaster Song Eun-yi (right) is speaking. Photo by Yonhap News
Last month, multiple SNS accounts impersonating Sung Kim, President of Hyundai Motor Group, were reported, prompting the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency to launch an investigation. It was identified that there are more than 14 impersonation accounts with personal photos and profiles of President Kim on Facebook alone.
Additionally, last year, model-turned-broadcaster Hong Jin-kyung posted on her SNS, "I do not operate anything like the ‘Hong Jin-kyung Department of Economics’ nor any stock investment leading chat rooms," and urged, "Please report any fraudulent accounts you find."
Earlier, in March last year, members of a group formed to resolve online phishing crimes impersonating celebrities (hereafter referred to as Yusamo), including broadcaster Song Eun-i, famous lecturer Kim Mi-kyung, John Lee (former CEO of Meritz Asset Management), and Joo Jin-hyung (former CEO of Hanwha Investment & Securities), held a press conference urging measures to prevent damage. The list of names in the press conference statement included 137 people such as broadcaster Yoo Jae-suk, singer Uhm Jung-hwa, and YouTuber Ddotty.
The Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) stated, "We plan to actively take measures by reviewing violations of laws such as the ‘Capital Markets and Financial Investment Business Act’," adding, "Celebrities who have suffered portrait rights infringement can directly report to the KCSC to quickly seek remedies. Users should also be especially cautious of advertising information that impersonates celebrities, luring people into open chat rooms on KakaoTalk, Band, etc., by promising principal guarantees and high returns."
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