The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) announced on the 28th that it had imposed a corrective order and a penalty of 71 million Korean won on the operator of the tax platform ‘Samjjeomsam’ for false advertising related to its tax refund proxy services. ‘Samjjeomsam’ is a tax platform that provides free services such as ‘estimated refund inquiry’ and paid services like ‘filing assistance’ to consumers.
According to the KFTC, Jobis & Villains, the operator of Samjjeomsam, was found to have conducted multiple false and exaggerated advertisements related to its free ‘estimated refund inquiry’ service to induce the use of paid services.
Representatively, the company sent messages to consumers stating, “A new refund amount has arrived” and “You are a priority refund confirmation target,” creating the impression that new refunds had occurred or that users had been selected for priority checks and must inquire. These messages were sent en masse to consumers who had not even checked their refunds. The KFTC judged that “the company engaged in false and exaggerated advertising by implying the existence of refunds despite being unable to confirm whether consumers had any refunds.”
Additionally, the company was found to have falsely advertised that “users who confirmed their refunds received an average of OO million Korean won,” making it seem as though all users who checked their refunds had received the average refund amount of paid service users. They also advertised, “An...
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) announced on the 28th that it had imposed a corrective order and a penalty of 71 million Korean won on the operator of the tax platform ‘Samjjeomsam’ for fals...