Fraudulent Bank Accounts Vary Widely by Bank with 5.6-Fold Difference

▲ Bank accounts (File Photo: Yonhap News)

Up to 7.3 out of every 10,000 newly opened bank accounts have been found to be used as fraudulent accounts.

In particular, it was identified that partnerships for won-based deposits and withdrawals with cryptocurrency exchanges affect the increase in fraudulent accounts.

According to data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to Representative Park Sung-hoon of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, on September 30, KB Kookmin Bank recorded the highest number of fraudulent accounts (accounts subject to payment suspension) per 10,000 newly opened accounts in the first half of this year at 7.3 among eight commercial and internet banks (KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, Hana, NH Nonghyup, Kakao, K, and Toss).

Kakao Bank followed with 4.8 accounts, K Bank with 4.5 accounts, NH Nonghyup Bank with 3.0 accounts, Woori Bank with 2.8 accounts, Hana Bank with 2.0 accounts, and both Shinhan Bank and Toss Bank with 1.3 accounts each.

The gap between KB Kookmin Bank, which had the highest figure, and Shinhan Bank and Toss Bank, which had the lowest, is approximately 5.6 times.

An official from KB Kookmin Bank explained, "As cases of abusing virtual assets for crimes increased following our partnership with virtual asset operator Bithumb, the use of newly opened accounts for fraud surged."

The official added, "We have formed a financial fraud response consultative body with Bithumb and are implementing response measures such as strengthening abnormal transaction detection."

KB Kookmin Bank has maintained its account partnership contract with Bithumb since March of last year.

Following Bithumb's Bitcoin mispayment accident, the bank extended the contract period for only six months in March of this year, but recently extended it again for another year until September of next year.

With the increase in financial frauds such as new types of voice phishing, the scale of fraudulent accounts has been on an upward trend every year.

Fraudulent accounts subject to payment suspension last year surged by 78.1% compared to the previous year (45,904 cases).

This was due to the impact of some investment frauds being included in telecommunications-based financial fraud starting in May of last year following a Supreme Court ruling in October 2024.

In the first half of this year, fraudulent accounts across the eight banks totaled 59,291 cases, reaching 72.5% of the total for the entire last year (81,761 cases).

As of the first half of this year, the number of fraudulent accounts by bank was highest at Kakao Bank with 15,089 cases, followed by KB Kookmin Bank with 10,454 cases, NH Nonghyup Bank with 7,909 cases, Woori Bank with 6,812 cases, Hana Bank with 6,792 cases, and Shinhan Bank with 5,166 cases.

Fraudulent accounts refer not only to accounts where victims' funds were remitted or transferred, but also to accounts used to transfer funds from those accounts.

Representative Park Sung-hoon said, "For voice phishing, blocking accounts that will be used for crimes is more important than returning damaged funds," adding, "Given the wide deviations in the occurrence of fraudulent accounts among banks, the overall prevention system, ranging from identity verification at the account opening stage to the detection of suspicious transactions, must be inspected."

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