A scam known as the so-called ‘account-tying’ fraud, where perpetrators send small amounts to accounts and then falsely report voice phishing damage to render the accounts unusable, has been repeatedly occurring. The number of accounts that had payment freezes lifted through objections to banks exceeded 6,500 cases in the first half of this year alone, nearly matching last year’s annual level.
According to data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to Rep. Park Dae-chul of the People Power Party on the 19th, the five major banks—KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, and NH Nonghyup—recorded 6,515 cases in the first half of this year where payment freezes were lifted through objections. This accounts for 93.1% of last year’s total of 6,997 cases.
The number of payment freeze releases through objections decreased from 5,938 cases in 2023 to 4,248 cases in 2024 but has been on the rise again since last year. However, not all released accounts were victims of the ‘account-tying’ scam, and it is estimated that only some were included.
The ‘account-tying’ scam exploits in reverse the system designed to protect voice phishing victims. Under current law, banks must immediately freeze payments on accounts suspected of being used for voice phishing—a measure to prevent fraudsters from embezzling funds.
Fraudsters take advantage of this. They send small amounts to self-employed individuals who have publicly disclosed their account numbers for business purposes and then falsely report to the bank that they were victims of voice phishing. Once the account is frozen, the owner cannot withdraw or transfer money. The fraudsters then demand money in exchange for withdrawing the report and unfreezing the account.
As cases of wrongful account freezes continued, the FSS established guidelines in May requiring that objections to payment freezes be processed within five business days. Previously, there was no set processing deadline.
However, the actual processing periods varied significantly between banks. As of July, the average processing time for objections was longest at KB Kookmin Bank with 18.6 days, followed by Shinhan Bank at 16.1 days, NH Nonghyup Bank at 9.5 days, Woori Bank at 5.1 days, and Hana Bank at 3.5 days. Although these periods include weekends and holidays, KB Kookmin Bank and Shinhan Bank still significantly exceeded the FSS’s proposed five business days even when excluding those days.
Rep. Park Dae-chul stated, “While new types of ‘account-tying’ scams targeting small self-employed individuals are rapidly increasing, the compliance rate with the FSS guidelines to reduce damage is very low.” He added, “It is as important to quickly unfreeze wrongfully frozen accounts as it is to swiftly block fraudulent funds. Financial authorities must establish fundamental fraud prevention measures.”
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