The Fair Trade Commission imposed a 70 million won penalty surcharge on Samjeomsam for sending KakaoTalk messages saying "a refund amount has arrived" even to consumers who had no taxes to be refunded.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said on the 28th that it decided to impose a 71 million won penalty surcharge along with a future prohibition order over false, exaggerated, and deceptive advertising related to Jobis&Villains Corp.'s tax refund agency service operating Samjeomsam.
Jobis&Villains Corp. sent four types of false, exaggerated, and deceptive advertisements via KakaoTalk messages to about 2.55 million consumers. With phrases such as "a new refund amount has arrived," "selected as a target for refund amount inquiry," and "you are a priority confirmation target for refund amount," it advertised as if there was a refund even to customers whose refund status was uncertain.
Jobis&Villains Corp. also informed users, "those who checked their refund recovered an average refund of 197,500 won." The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) viewed this as false and exaggerated advertising, saying, "this is the average refund of users of the filing agency service, but it was made to appear as the average refund of all users who checked their refund." The average refund received through Samjeomsam by users who checked their estimated refund was 65,578 won, a roughly threefold difference.
Jobis&Villains Corp. also advertised, "you need to check an average refund of 536,991 won." The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said, "although this was the average refund for users who met the additional deduction requirements, it misled consumers to think it was the average refund of consumers who checked their refund or of all users of the filing agency service."
In addition, Jobis&Villains Corp. advertised that "1 in 2 earned income workers is eligible for a refund." The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) judged that although the statistic was calculated for earned income workers who used Samjeomsam, it was deceptively advertised as if 1 in 2 earned income workers nationwide were eligible for a refund.
An official at the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said, "comprehensive income tax refunds are a field that is unfamiliar and difficult for ordinary consumers to access," adding, "when exposed to personalized advertising, purchase decisions based on expectations for refunds can be made easily by relying on the ads." The official added, "we determined there is significant concern that it could seriously undermine fair trade order, given that it distorted service choices for a large number of consumers."