Voice-phishing scams were the cause of the most credit card disputes in the South Korean card market last year, according to a new report by Credit Finance Association of Korea.
Customers complaining against card companies’ blacklisting of delinquent cardholders were the next most-frequent type of complaint, the report said, citing data from the Financial Supervisory Service.
Many Korean cardholders have succumbed to voice-phishing scams because of issuers’ weak cybersecurity systems, where fraudsters contact cardholders as bank representatives to obtain card details, the report contends.
The Financial Supervisory Service “is conducting inquiries to monitor [issues’] cybersecurity measures against possible leaks of customer information,” the report says, noting the regulator has pledged to conduct a more intensive overall market inquiry.
The March 22 report by the umbrella organization of card issuers, banks and other lenders says Shinhan Card was cited in 447 dispute cases filed with financial regulators in 2011. KB Kookmin Co. Ltd. ranked second with 430 cases, followed by Hyundai Card Co. Ltd. with 352, Samsung Card Ltd. with 306 and Lotte Card Ltd. with 240 complaints.
“The reason we have the high number of complaints is partly because we have the highest share of the credit card market,” a Shinhan spokesperson tells PaymentsSource, without disclosing card numbers.
According to Credit Finance Association of Korea, Shinhan controls more than 20% of the card market since acquiring LG Card in 2007.
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