<Anchor> This is a
friendly economic time. Reporter Kim Hye-min is here. The economy has become very difficult these days because of the corona virus. There are also a lot of people who are having a hard time. So is it? There is talk of an increase in illegal loan advertisements.
<Reporter> The
Financial Supervisory Service conducted monitoring in various ways last year, and a citizen monitoring group was also active. General reports were also received.
Then, last year, there were 290,000 illegal loan advertisements. Compared to 2019, this is an increase of more than 24%.
In the past, there were many cases where flyers were placed on the walls of buildings or subways to induce people in need of money to contact them, but these days, due to Corona 19, the number of untact advertisements is also increasing.
In particular, recently, there have been many advertisements that trick people into making phone calls as if they were giving loan advice at a large bank, but this is so clever that many people are deceived.
<Anchor>
There are many people who are deceived. Then, if you tell us what kind of advertisements these are, I think we can prevent the damage.
<Reporter>
I've been getting a lot of text messages like this lately, so I'll show you the details of these text messages.
First, they are impersonating a large financial institution. “We are implementing additional financial support with government policy funds,” and “Customers who receive this notice should apply within the deadline,” encouraging consumers to believe.
At the same time, there was a very plausible mention that the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund provides support, and the limit of support is up to 100 million won without collateral. In fact, I was almost deceived.
Also, text messages with similar contents were frequently coming from various institutions, not just one financial institution. In addition, if you want to apply for a loan, you are told to call a specific number and apply for a consultation.
However, calling here can lead to criminal activities such as voice phishing. And these illegal loan advertisements ask victims to contact them by nailing the execution date of the loan, because they change their phone number after two or three weeks.
It takes some time for the financial authorities to detect and take action, but in the meantime, they use a method to avoid detection by changing the number.
<Anchor>
I think I've gotten texts like that before. So, I think I heard a lot of plausibility while watching it, but then, what should I do to avoid such damage?
<Reporter>
First of all, the easiest way to tell if it is an illegal loan advertisement or not is to check the 'contact number' that the text message came from.
If you would like to get a loan, it is better to call the bank's representative number or contact a financial company directly.
You should also be especially wary of advertisements with nonsensical phrases, words like 'everyone can borrow' or 'possible bad credit' can be tempting.
However, there are very few loans that can actually do this. You should also be suspicious when mention of 'supply', 'number of days', and 'low interest exchange' is mentioned.
One of the characteristics of these advertisements is that they claim to comply with the legal maximum interest rate, but in reality, they often exceed the maximum interest rate by charging upfront interest and commissions.
All other loan-related payments, except for lien establishment fees and credit check fees, must be treated as interest, even if they have slightly different names.
The current annual interest rate must not exceed 24%. From the 7th of the next month onwards, this will be lowered to 20% per annum for new loans. If you have overpaid interest, it is all invalid and you can claim a refund.
<Anchor> That's
right. If you organize a little, simply do not call when you see a text message, and if you really need money, go directly to the bank or use the bank representative number. Another thing I'm worried about is illegal loans to teenagers and illegal loans to teenagers. There are a lot of people doing this kind of business.
<Reporter>
This is often referred to as 'representative admission' or 'dealip' for short. When teenagers want to buy idol goods or game items, they are aiming for a small amount of money, so we mainly advertise through social media that teenagers use a lot.
As advertised now, we lend a small amount of money from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of won within a week. If you receive interest in the name of hard work, and pay late, you will also receive a late fee of several thousand won per hour.
It makes you think that this is not a huge amount, but if you consider the interest rate, it is a high interest rate of 20-50%. In one year, this amounts to 1000%. They threaten me if I can't pay the money back. Secondary damage such as personal information exposure may also occur.
First of all, young people shouldn't make these micro loans. If you are experiencing damage after using it, please be sure to ask your parents or teachers for help.