‘Guidance on Livelihood Recovery Support Fund’ Blog Links Redirect to Subscription Services
Misleading Service Path Example (Provided by KCC)
(Seoul = News1) Reporter Lee Ki-beom – Recently, incidents have been reported where users are tricked into subscribing to paid services by sites impersonating ‘Livelihood Recovery Support Fund’ application and guidance websites.
The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) on the 4th urged users to be cautious, stating that searching ‘Livelihood Recovery Support Fund’ on search engines like Naver brings up blog posts at the top, which link users to paid subscription services.
Posts titled ‘Direct Guidance on Livelihood Recovery Support Fund’ and ‘National Livelihood Recovery Support Fund Guidance’ contain phrases like ‘Apply Now’ or ‘Apply Immediately.’ Clicking these leads to pages for unrelated paid services such as ‘Leisure Life Protection Service’ and ‘Mobile Family Protection Service.’
During this process, users are prompted to input their phone numbers and verification codes, which can mislead them into thinking it is a verification step for the support fund application.
The KCC judged this deceptive advertising behavior as potentially violating the ‘Telecommunications Business Act Enforcement Decree,’ due to false or exaggerated explanations about terms and service content for recruiting users.
The KCC stated, “To prevent user damage, we have demanded the advertising companies immediately cease these advertisements, and we plan to initiate an investigation if these activities continue.”