A (37), a company employee, recently searched for imported perfumes on 'Naver Shopping.' He pressed the shopping mall 'Cuckoo,' which was displayed at the top of the recommended page with a sign reading 'Lowest price 70,000 won.' The membership registration process required his name, address, phone number, email, and password. The only payment method available was bank transfer, but A transferred money to the Shinhan Bank 'XX Construction Trade' account without any particular suspicion. After receiving a payment confirmation email, the product page disappeared a day later, and the shopping mall's name changed to 'Blazing Sea.'
'XX Construction Trade' was operating multiple shopping malls under the same corporate name. The shopping mall addresses frequently changed among Yongin, Gwangju, and Ansan, and various names of Chinese representatives were alternately registered. A reported the incident to the police and only after notifying Naver about the issue did the fake shopping mall get deleted. However, shortly afterward, another shopping mall using the same business account appeared in Naver's price comparison.
According to the industry on the 28th, 'fake shopping malls' that induce bank transfers are becoming rampant on platforms like Naver. Continuous posts warning about similar fraud victims are emerging online.
B, who paid for Chanel perfume via bank transfer at an external shopping mall called 'Running Giraffe' found on Naver last month, also suffered damages. He noted, 'After depositing into the XX Construction Trade account, I inquired about the delayed delivery and received a response saying, 'It will take more than a week due to the number of buyers,' and a few days later, the site was blocked from access.'
The problem is that falling for a fake shopping mall does not only lead to financial losses. Fake shopping malls request information such as address, mobile phone number, and password during the sign-up process. A actually received spam messages from China the day after joining the fake shopping mall. The security industry believes that this stolen information is highly likely to be misused in secondary crimes such as voice phishing, mobile phone opening, and account creation for virtual asset exchanges.
The background of these recurring damages points to structural flaws in the platforms. Naver's price comparison system is divided into three branches: 'Smart Store, Department Store Mall, External Mall.' While Smart Store undergoes a relatively strict review process based on business registration, online sales reporting, and sales history, external malls can include various types such as their own malls and other platform malls, and exposure is possible if certain criteria are met.
A representative from Naver said, 'Even if it is an external mall, we immediately block it if policy violations are confirmed by real-time checks of transaction data and unusual patterns,' but added, 'It is difficult to preemptively block bank transfers and phone orders that are outside the platform due to technical limitations.'
According to the Korea Consumer Agency, there has been a recent surge in reported cases of fake shopping mall fraud. From 2021 to 2023, a total of 2,064 consultations regarding fraudulent overseas direct purchase shopping malls were received by the International Transaction Consumer Portal. The number increased from 251 in 2021 to 441 in 2022 and 1,372 in 2023. The number of consultations related to shopping malls impersonating famous outdoor brands has reached 106 since the first report in early December last year. The situation is complicated as the identity of the business operator remains unclear, making it difficult to obtain compensation.
As incidents of fraud from fake shopping malls increase, there is a growing call for accountability from the platforms. In the past, criticisms regarding poor management of registered vendors on platforms have been ongoing. The Personal Information Commission imposed fines on seven companies, including Naver, Coupang, and 11Street, in 2021 for inadequate measures in verifying seller identities.
A representative from Naver stated, 'Once a fraud report is received, we immediately remove the exposure on the price comparison and take internal measures if policy violations are confirmed.' They further mentioned, 'We are strengthening monitoring for unusual signs by examining business accounts, IP (Internet addresses), and domain patterns,' and added, 'If an external mall only requires bank transfer payments or offers excessively low prices, it is advisable to be suspicious and using traceable methods like Naver Pay or credit card payments can help prevent damages.'