"I will guarantee 28.8% annual return on dollar bonds"... Financial Supervisory Service issues warning on 'dollar bond' scams

Impersonating Global Investment Firms Like JP Morgan
Defrauding Investors with Promises of High Returns

On the 25th, the Financial Supervisory Service announced that illegal operators created websites impersonating global investment firms and continuously engaged in illegal activities by frequently changing domain addresses.

# Victim A, in his 40s, became interested in dollar investments and learned about a global investment company called B through a blog in mid-February. He then became interested in dollar bonds that promised a monthly return of 2.4% (annual 28.8%). He listened to the dollar bond investment story on B company's website and deposited a total of 20 million KRW in two installments into the account provided on B company's website. Suddenly suspecting that the dollar bond investment method was similar to the Mexican corporate bond investment scam that occurred in 2024, he applied for cancellation. However, his cancellation request was denied on grounds such as the maturity date not having arrived.

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) recently warned that scams promising high returns through 'dollar bond investments' are rampant.

On the 25th, the FSS issued a consumer alert at the 'caution' level, stating that cases of impersonating the U.S. global investment company JP Morgan to defraud investment funds have occurred.

For example, illegal operators created websites similar to those of well-known foreign companies to pose as trusted global investment firms. As the dollar's value continued to strengthen after Trump's re-election in the U.S., they lured investors with dollar bond investments as bait and heavily promoted fake ultra-high return information through online news articles.

When victims suspected fraud and reported it, the impersonating investment companies frequently changed their domain addresses and opened new websites to continue their illegal activities.

The FSS emphasized that even global investment companies operating without domestic authorization under the law are illegal. The FSS explained, "If a global investment company promotes overseas financial product investments online or elsewhere using high returns as bait, it may be an investment scam," and added, "If suspected to be an illegal operator, immediately stop transactions and report promptly."