Home > Business > Finance

Korea's major banks see surge in account suspensions related to phishing incidents

Published: 11 Sep. 2025, 12:54

ATMs are seen at a street in Seoul on Jan. 31, 2025. [NEWS1]

More than 150,000 bank accounts at Korea’s six major commercial banks were suspended over the past five years after being used for voice phishing scams, according to data submitted to the National Assembly on Thursday.

The figure comes as financial authorities push for a legal revision that would require financial companies to cover part of the damages caused by such crimes.

KB Kookmin tops list, followed by NH Nonghyup, Woori, Shinhan, Hana and IBK

According to data obtained by Rep. Park Sung-hoon of the National Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee from the Financial Supervisory Service, a total of 150,082 accounts were suspended for being linked to fraud at the six largest commercial banks — KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, NH Nonghyup and IBK — between 2020 and the first quarter of this year.

KB Kookmin Bank had the highest number, with 34,036 accounts suspended. It was followed by NH Nonghyup Bank with 27,381, Woori Bank with 24,816, Shinhan Bank with 22,510, Hana Bank with 21,378 and IBK Industrial Bank of Korea with 19,561.

The number of suspended accounts has risen steadily each year. In 2020, there were 23,381 suspensions, followed by 27,967 in 2021 and 28,185 in 2022. While the number slightly dipped to 27,652 in 2023, it rebounded to 32,409 in 2024. With 10,488 cases reported in just the first quarter of 2025, the total could surpass 40,000 this year for the first time.

ATMs installed inside a building in Seoul [NEWS1]

Regional banks see similar trend — iM Bank ranks in the middle

A similar trend was observed among regional banks. From 2020 through the first quarter of this year, a total of 9,621 accounts were suspended at the five major regional banks — Busan, Gwangju, Jeju, Jeonbuk and Kyongnam.

Busan Bank saw the most with 4,508 suspended accounts, followed by Kyongnam Bank with 2,713, Jeonbuk Bank with 1,108, Gwangju Bank with 1,075 and Jeju Bank with 217.

The number has also steadily increased each year, with 774 accounts suspended in the first quarter of 2025 alone — suggesting the year will likely see a new high. iM Bank — formerly Daegu Bank and reclassified as a commercial bank in May 2024 — recorded 4,534 suspended accounts over the same period, ranking it above regional banks but below major commercial banks.

“Even just looking at the number of accounts exploited for voice phishing, we have to question whether there’s a serious flaw in our financial security system,” Rep. Park said. “To counter increasingly sophisticated scams, we need to strengthen real-time information sharing among banks, investigative agencies and financial authorities, and shift the paradigm toward preemptive prevention.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JEONG JAE-HONG [[email protected]]