Social media-based overseas shopping scams on the rise... ”Caution required” = South Korean report

A large number of cases of overseas shopping scams have been confirmed through social networking services (SNS) such as Instagram and YouTube.
According to the Korea Consumer Agency, the number of inquiries about overseas shopping mall scams received by the international transaction consumer portal site was 1,372 in 2023, down from 1,372 in 2022.
This is a sharp increase from the 441 cases reported in 2016. In particular, it was revealed that most of the victims connected to shopping scam sites via Instagram or YouTube.
The Korea Consumer Agency has received 2,064 overseas shopping mall fraud consultations from 2021 to 2023, and the connection route has been confirmed.
After analyzing 1,821 cases, the majority of cases (82.3%) involved connecting via social media. Among these, 41.8% (762 cases) involved connecting via Instagram.
The most common type of damage was through YouTube, accounting for 25.3% (460 cases). The most common type of damage was fraudulent brand-name products, accounting for 47.1% (972 cases).
There were many. In the majority of cases, sellers were operating shopping malls posing as famous fashion brands, and then they would not deliver the products after payment was made and would then stop contacting the seller.
Next, sales of inferior products accounted for 46.5% (959 cases). In these cases, sellers sold inferior products that were different from the advertised products and then refused to refund the purchase, resulting in consumer complaints.
In many cases, companies would not accept returns of products and instead offered partial refunds of the purchase price. Instagram and YouTube have set rules that must be adhered to when placing ads on their content.
The ministry has also established self-regulation regulations that require users to report illegal or harmful content.
However, a survey revealed that 42.2% of users were unaware of the existence of the liberalization regulations.
"We are working to make it easier for consumers to become aware of the self-regulation regulations and the reporting function and to make it easier for them to use them," said a Consumer Agency official.
"Improvements are needed," he said, adding, "We will ask Meta and Google for active cooperation, while also planning to block access to domestic sites in Korea through deliberations at the Korea Communications Review Commission."