[2021 National Audit] 5,748 Cases of 'Daelip' Ads Hurting Youth Over Two Years

Assemblyman Kim Byung-wook: "Financial Authorities Must Actively Intervene to Protect Youth"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] According to the 'Proxy Deposit Advertisement Reports and Damage Status' submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) to Kim Byung-wook, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the FSS has collected 5,748 cases of proxy deposit advertisements from June 2019, when it began collecting them, until August of this year, but there have been only 5 damage reports.

Proxy deposit refers to the act of lending money to teenagers through social networking services (SNS) such as Twitter or YouTube to buy idol merchandise or game items, and charging a service fee (interest) and a late fee (penalty). The term means making a deposit on behalf of someone and collecting payment, and teenagers sometimes call it 'Daelip'.

Proxy deposit operators approach teenagers like acquaintances or friends to lower their guard and lure them into borrowing small amounts, usually around 100,000 won, for a short period. However, the interest charged as a service fee ranges from 20% to as high as 50%, and they also collect late fees, which usually range from 1,000 won to 10,000 won per hour.

Although the proxy deposit amounts are small, failure to repay can lead to additional crimes such as personal information leakage, threats, or confinement. Since the victims are mainly teenagers who have not yet developed a sense of financial responsibility, this issue has many elements that could escalate into a social problem.

The FSS has been collecting proxy deposit advertisements since June 2019 and has made some improvements such as strengthening guidance and producing educational videos since July last year, but there has been no actual survey on proxy deposits targeting teenagers.

Assemblyman Kim said, "The proxy deposit issue is a social problem because the main victims are teenagers who are vulnerable to financial knowledge and legal matters, so a survey is essential. The difficulty in conducting such a survey reflects the FSS's lack of will." He added, "Since these are ultra-high-interest private loans with annualized interest rates reaching 2,000 to 3,000%, the financial authorities must actively cooperate with the Ministry of Education to protect our teenagers from illegal private financing."

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