The number of children under 5 who purchased the Onnuri gift certificate was found to exceed 1,000. Considering that the existing monthly purchase limit for paper Onnuri gift certificates is 1.5 million won, this is interpreted as a 'trick purchase' to evade the purchase limit.
According to the age-specific purchase status of Onnuri gift certificates submitted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to the office of Democratic Party lawmaker Oh Se-hee on the 27th, there were 1,286 buyers aged 0 to 5 this year (January to November).
The total purchase amount by this group was 7.64 billion won, with an average purchase of 5.94 million won per person.
The purchasing amount for those under 5 has been increasing since 2022, rising from 6.53 billion won in 2022 to 7.09 billion won last year, and again increasing to 7.64 billion won this year.
The number of buyers aged 6 to 10 this year was 2,846, with the purchase amount totaling 16.94 billion won.
Lawmaker Oh Se-hee noted, 'The case of大量 purchasing Onnuri gift certificates in the name of a newborn baby seriously undermines the purpose of the system,' and emphasized that 'strong measures are needed to enhance the effectiveness of anti-fraud measures and prevent recurrence.'
On the 19th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced measures to block the fraudulent distribution of Onnuri gift certificates and decided to lower the current monthly discount purchase limit for paper gift certificates from 1.5 million won to 500,000 won starting next year.