[2026 Parliamentary Audit] Reporting Illegal Investment Advice... Takes an Average of 588 Days to Receive a Reward

It takes an average of 588 days, or one year and seven months, from the time a report is filed to the actual payment of a reward to someone who reports illegal investment advisory activities.

According to data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to Assemblyman Park Seonghun of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee, a total of 3,357 reports related to quasi-investment advisory firms were received from 2022 through the first half of this year. Of these, 160 were reviewed for rewards, and rewards were approved in 68 cases.

The total amount of rewards paid was 47.7 million won. The average payment per case was 565,000 won in 2022, 526,000 won in 2023, and 650,000 won in 2024, before increasing to 913,000 won last year and 1.129 million won this year.

During this period, an average of 588 days elapsed between the receipt of a report and payment of the reward. Most cases, 57 in total, took more than a year. In one case, the wait lasted as long as 1,383 days.

The number of approved rewards by year was 17 in 2022, 19 in 2023, 10 in 2024, 15 in 2025, and 7 in the first half of this year. The Financial Supervisory Service explained that tips related to quasi-investment advisory firms qualify for rewards if, after the cases are referred to investigative authorities, the Service receives notice that they have been sent to prosecutors with a recommendation to indict. In other words, the time taken by investigative authorities is also reflected in the overall period before a reward is paid.

However, some have pointed out that lengthy delays between filing a report and receiving a reward could make it difficult to encourage people to actively submit tips. Assemblyman Park said, "If people who report illegal investment advisory activities have to wait years in some cases to receive the rewards they are entitled to, the purpose of the system—to encourage more reports—will be undermined. The processing time of investigative authorities should be managed separately from the Financial Supervisory Service’s review and payment periods, and the system should be improved so that reporters can check the status of their cases."

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