A new type of illegal lending has emerged, offering high-interest loans exceeding 150% annually without providing physical mobile phones as collateral.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced on July 20 that it has issued a consumer alert after identifying this new illegal lending scheme and a similar deposit fraud disguised as eSIM sales in collaboration with the police.
Fraudsters demanded that victims seeking funds register as delivery service operators and then arranged fake mobile phone rental contracts with colluding companies. Although no actual devices were delivered or SIM cards activated, victims were made to sign installation confirmation documents to make the contracts appear legitimate.
Some victims were processed as having rented ten mobile phones worth 18 million won, being required to repay 170,000 won daily for 200 days. This translates to an annual interest rate of 160%. If victims failed to repay, the rental claims were transferred to another company, which then threatened legal action for fraud.
Additionally, a similar deposit fraud posing as an eSIM sales business was uncovered. The company promised investors returns exceeding 20% per month and initially paid out profits. However, it later demanded additional payments under the guise of taxes before shutting down its website and disappearing.
The FSS reported that it has referred eight cases of illegal lending and 15 cases of similar deposit fraud related to the same operators for investigation this year. The agency urged consumers to immediately cease transactions if they are asked for business registration or fake rental contracts as loan conditions, or if they are promised principal guarantees along with high returns.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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