FSS Issues Consumer Alert Over Jeonse Fraud Concerns Involving 'Samhaengsi Group Accounts'

Group Accounts Disguised as Individual Names Exploited for Jeonse Fraud and Voice Phishing

Banks to Add "Group" Indicator to Account Names Starting in June

On May 28, the Financial Supervisory Service issued a consumer warning of "caution," stating that so-called "Samhaengsi accounts," which are group accounts disguised as personal accounts, have recently been exploited in rental deposit fraud and similar scams.

The Financial Supervisory Service explained that recent rental deposit fraud cases have occurred due to accounts that appear to be under individual names but are actually group accounts. It also warned that these accounts could be abused for various other scams, including voice phishing.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service, a recent case involved a real estate agent who created a group account using the landlord’s name as the group name, and then embezzled rental deposits from tenants through this account.

Real estate agent A, after being entrusted by landlord B with property management, deceived the landlord by claiming to have arranged a monthly rent contract. Then, by creating an arbitrary group named after B, the agent opened a group account and transferred approximately 800 million won in rental deposits received from tenants into this account, subsequently misappropriating the funds.

The tenants transferred their rental deposits without suspicion, as the account holder name matched the landlord’s name stated in the contract.

The Financial Supervisory Service announced that it has instructed financial institutions to exercise heightened caution and prevent fraud when organizations with group names that could be mistaken for personal names apply to open accounts.

Additionally, starting next month, the agency plans to instruct banks to include a separate label, "group," next to the group name when issuing group accounts. This improvement will be rolled out sequentially to smaller financial institutions as well.

A representative from the Financial Supervisory Service stated, "Financial consumers can determine whether the account holder is a group by checking for the separate 'group' label," adding, "We hope that consumers will actively use this information to verify whether their counterparties in financial transactions are legitimate."

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