Park Han-sol reports on Korea's financial regulators, along with fintech and insurance. She previously wrote about the art world, from biennales and exhibitions to fairs and auctions, with a focus on Seoul and the figures shaping the scene. Before joining The Korea Times, she spent a year at ABC News' Seoul bureau, contributing to coverage of major Asia-Pacific events.
Digital investment scams increasingly target retirement-age investors
The Financial Supervisory Service's headquarters in Seoul / Korea Times file
By Park Han-sol
Financial watchdog's data reveals average losses of $122,000 per victim
Illegal personal finance influencers are increasingly resorting to sophisticated online impersonation tactics to swindle retirement-age investors, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), Tuesday.
Cases uncovered this year through the watchdog’s new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered monitoring system show that investors in their 50s and 60s, who are less adept at navigating digital environments, have emerged as the primary targets of these evolving scams.
Of the 17 cases reported to the FSS between January and April, 12 involved victims from those age groups. Many were persuaded to pour retirement savings into fraudulent schemes, suffering substantial losses averaging 180 million won ($122,000) per person.
Authorities identified three major tactics behind the scams.
The most prevalent involved fraudsters posing as established financial influencers. Scammers copied profile images, logos and existing content from legitimate channels to create convincing fakes, then used doctored videos to funnel viewers into illegal stock chatrooms.
Others masqueraded as licensed financial institutions, building counterfeit websites with stolen corporate identities or promoting investment opportunities falsely presented as projects affiliated with reputable firms, only to abscond with investors’ money.
Some operators took an even more deceptive route by acquiring unrelated but popular YouTube channels with large followings and rebranding them into seemingly credible stock investment platforms.
The latest investigation follows the FSS’ transition from manual oversight to an AI-based real-time surveillance system.
The system automatically flags newly uploaded content from monitored channels, extracts audio and subtitle data and evaluates potential legal violations, enabling authorities to respond more swiftly through administrative measures or criminal referrals.
The financial watchdog cautioned that victims who transact with illegal financial operators are not eligible for formal dispute mediation or compensation, underscoring the need for investors to thoroughly verify suspicious platforms before committing funds.