(123rf)

With a rising number of social media impersonation scams targeting influential executives of Korea’s major companies, there are increasing calls for stronger regulations to prevent social harm.

According to sources on Monday, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency recently launched an investigation into multiple social media accounts impersonating Sung Kim, an advisor and newly appointed president of the strategic planning division at Hyundai Motor Group.

The police have identified over 14 Facebook accounts posing as Kim, using his photos and profile. Some introduced their personal pages as "official accounts" of the advisor. One fake account reportedly sent a message to a Hyundai Motor Company official attempting to extract Kim’s personal information but failed. It was also reported that the US authorities had received similar complaints about Facebook accounts impersonating Kim.

According to MarqVision, an intellectual property management company, social media is the main venue for online impersonators, accounting for about 79 percent of posts pretending to be well-known persons such as entertainers, popular YouTubers and other powerful figures.

In 2020, an Instagram account posing as Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong attracted over 450,000 followers before it was deleted in January of this year. Before shutting down, the account was labeled as a ‘fan page,’ but contained content using Samsung’s official photos to an extent it could be mistaken for Lee’s personal page.

Notably, there has been a series of social media impersonation incidents, where scammers posed as former Hanwha Investment Securities CEO Joo Jin-hyeong and former Meritz Asset Management CEO John Lee, attempted to facilitate illegal investments.

From September 2023 to February of this year, 2,517 cases of phishing crimes involving the impersonation of investment experts were reported, resulting in financial losses totaling 237.1 billion won ($165.1 million), according to the National Police Agency.

Experts say legal gray areas regarding impersonation scams are making it challenging to prevent such crimes.

“Currently, there is no law that can punish online impersonators,” said Hwang Sung-ha, managing partner at Law Firm Yeol. “For legal action, there has to be ‘defamation,’ meaning publicly spreading false statements about a person that can hurt one’s reputation. Without this, there are no grounds to shut down fake accounts. (I believe) stricter regulations are necessary to fight these crimes.”

Article 70 of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network stipulates that if impersonators publicly reveal facts to defame others, they can face up to seven years in prison, a suspension from participating in certain public positions or social activities for up to 10 years or a fine of up to 50 million. However, Hwang said these cases usually conclude with fines of only a few million won, as few courts recognize significant damage to the victim's public image.

An amendment to the Information Act, currently pending in the National Assembly, would make it a crime to create a fake online account to impersonate someone, punishable by imprisonment for up to one year or a fine of up to 10 million won.

By Byun Hye-jin  (hyejin2@heraldcorp.com)