KT Confirms 362 Victims and 240 Million Won in Additional Small-Sum Payment Fraud ... "Free USIM Replacement and Insurance Support"

Scope of Damage Expands: Number of Victims Rises from 278 to 362
Four Illegal Ultra-Small Base Stations Identified

KT announced on September 18 that the damage caused by illegal micro base stations through small-sum payment fraud has been found to be greater than initially reported, and that it will support affected customers with free USIM card replacement and enrollment in a USIM protection service. The number of affected customers has increased from 278 to 362, and the total accumulated damage has reached 240 million won.

Since its initial announcement on September 11, KT has conducted a comprehensive investigation of all small-sum payment transactions authenticated via ARS since June, in addition to a customer inquiry (VOC)-based investigation, and has analyzed payment and call patterns. During this process, KT identified incomplete log cases and cross-checked them with micro base station connection records, confirming additional cases of damage and identifying illegal base station IDs.

By analyzing patterns such as an abnormally high number of connections during specific time periods or a concentration of small-sum payments within a short time, KT newly detected two illegal base stations, bringing the total number of suspicious base station IDs to four. Approximately 20,000 people received signals from these stations, and during this process, there were indications that International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), and mobile phone numbers were leaked.

However, KT emphasized that “no additional damage has occurred since abnormal payment attempts were blocked on September 5,” adding, “Customer names and dates of birth were not leaked, and USIM authentication keys were not exposed, so there is no possibility of damage from cloned phones.”

KT has reported the results of this supplementary investigation to the Personal Information Protection Commission, and is individually notifying affected customers via text message and app about the following: free USIM card replacement, USIM protection service, and a function to check whether they have been affected. In addition, KT is taking measures to ensure that affected customers do not have to bear the cost of fraudulent small-sum payments themselves, and plans to provide ‘KT Safety Assurance Insurance’ (tentative name) free of charge for the next three years to compensate for financial fraud damages.

Furthermore, KT will convert approximately 2,000 stores nationwide into ‘Safety Assurance Specialty Stores,’ and will implement measures to prevent recurrence, such as upgrading its network management system-including micro base stations-and strengthening monitoring of small-sum payments. Currently, a police investigation and a joint public-private investigation are underway, and KT is actively cooperating.

KT stated, “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and concern caused to our customers,” and added, “If any additional facts are confirmed, we will promptly inform the public and do our utmost to protect customers and improve our systems.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.