Financial fraudsters exploit K-pop craze among foreign students

Fans of BTS show BTS photo cards at the 2024 FESTA, an event held to commemorate the K-pop juggernaut's 11th anniversary, at Jamsil Sports Complex in Seoul in June 2024. Korea Times photo by Jung Da-bin

Ashurova Mehrona, a Tajikistan national currently studying at Kyungpook National University / Courtesy of Toss Bank

As an avid fan of the K-pop boy group Seventeen, Ashurova Mehrona was all too familiar with photo cards — a must-have item for K-pop enthusiasts. Yet, she never imagined that this token of fandom could be used in financial scams targeting foreign students.

"You might appreciate how valuable and collectible these items can be. If you’ve ever traded photo cards or bought them from a seller, it’s clear how much trust is involved in these transactions," said Mehrona, a Tajikistan national currently studying at Kyungpook National University.

Photo cards, featuring the faces of K-pop stars, are randomly included as a gift with album purchases. Fans often trade or buy the cards online to complete their collections. When supply is limited, demand and prices can skyrocket.

In a surprising twist, scammers are exploiting foreign students' passion as well as their occasional financial struggles.

A scammer poses as a buyer and approaches a photo card seller online — often a foreign student living in Korea — asking to purchase a card. The seller provides their bank account information for payment. The scammer claims they will transfer the money soon, but instead uses the seller’s account details to deceive another person through a voice phishing scheme.

The scammer contacts a second victim and claims their bank account is linked to criminal activity, instructing them to transfer their money to the seller’s account for investigation purposes. Believing the scam, the phishing victim sends money to the seller’s account. The seller, unaware of the situation, assumes the payment is for the photo card and sends the item via parcel. Later, when the phishing victim realizes they’ve been scammed and reports the transaction to the police, the innocent seller ends up having their bank account frozen.

Encountering such situations in an unfamiliar environment can be deeply unsettling for foreign students. And unfortunately, these scams are not isolated incidents. Financial crimes targeting students have been increasing steadily.

Data from the Financial Supervisory Service showed that such cases rose nearly ninefold between 2021 and 2023. These scams have also diversified, involving currency exchange fraud, voice phishing and fake offers for high-paying part-time jobs, according to Toss Bank.

Foreign students attend a financial education program at Toss Bank in Seoul, March 24. Courtesy of Toss Bank

To protect this vulnerable group, the internet-only bank first hosted a financial education program on March 24. The program was for 22 foreign students who are recipients of the Global Korea Scholarship 2025.

Toss Bank said it plans to continue providing support to ensure that international students in Korea can manage their finances safely and stay protected from financial scams. It is the only internet-only bank in Korea that offers account-opening services to foreign nationals.

"Our team is preparing to support safer and more convenient banking by sending multilingual alert messages with financial safety guidelines to help prevent scams that target foreign students," said Lee Ju-yeon, Toss Bank’s fraud intervention manager, who led the session.

Mehrona, who also participated in the workshop, said the program was very useful.

“The opportunity to learn about Korea’s financial system, banking procedures and fraud prevention measures was especially beneficial. This seminar helped me feel more confident in handling my finances while studying in Korea,” she said.