Shoppers, beware: New phishing scam targets victims of Qoo10 refund disaster

Beware of a new scam involving refunds for TMON and WeMakePrice purchases, with scammers posing as Qoo10 employees in order to obtain personal information.

Examples of text messages sent by scammers pretending to work for TMON or WeMakePrice. [KOREA INTERNET & SECURITY AGENCY, KONAN]

Shoppers, beware: A new scam that pretends to process refunds for purchases made on TMON and WeMakePrice is here to steal your data.

The scheme involves scammers, pretending to work for e-commerce platforms such as TMON, asking customers for personal information or having them access a website to obtain credentials, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said Friday.

Scammers, as the FSS noted, could use such information to induce financial transactions. They could also ask consumers to send them money that they claim is needed to process refunds or send complimentary rewards, a common scam tactic across secondhand marketplaces.

The FSS advised people to immediately hang up calls and delete text messages from unidentified sources. Users should avoid clicking links in text messages, which can often lead to fraudulent websites, downloading third-party apps with which they are unfamiliar and entering login credentials or other sensitive information into unofficial platforms. The regulator also advised customers to direct any questions about the refund process for online purchases to the Korea Consumer Agency, credit card companies or the FSS.

Victims of such scams should immediately call their bank or the voice phishing center at 112 to halt financial transactions and apply for damage relief.

A seller checks messages in a group chat for sellers who have not received payments from Qoo10-owned e-commerce platforms TMON and WeMakePrice on Thursday. [NEWS1]

The scammers are peddling off difficulties consumers have had obtaining refunds from Qoo10-owned e-commerce platforms including TMON and WeMakePrice.

A liquidity crunch at Qoo10 and its affiliates has left sellers unable to withdraw their payments, leading both merchants and payment gateways to exit the platform in droves. Customers seeking refunds, until last Saturday, consequently had to make their requests directly to the affected Qoo10 firms.

Eight out of the 11 payment gateways that facilitated TMON and WeMakePrice transactions began telling customers how to apply for refunds or cancel transactions on Saturday. Both card companies and payment gateway vendors started processing the refunds and cancellations for consumers on Thursday.

The government estimated two platforms' total outstanding payouts to be 274.5 billion won ($200.4 million) as of Wednesday, up from its previous tally of 213.4 billion won a week ago. The amount is expected to more than triple when pending settlements reach their due dates.

Financial authorities, including the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the FSS, jointly said that plans for additional regulatory improvements would be announced soon after a task force meeting Friday. The government pledged to put 560 billion won toward resolving the liquidity crisis on July 29.

BY KIM JU-YEON, SHIN HA-NEE [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]