South Korea sees surge in overseas purchase fraud and identity theft

South Korea is seeing a massive surge in fraudulent activities related to overseas direct purchases. According to data from the Korea Customs Service, the amount of goods seized for being falsely declared as personal use rather than for commercial resale reached a record 225.8 billion won last year. This represents an eightfold increase from 28.1 billion won in 2021. While the total number of detected cases decreased, the average value per detection rose significantly from approximately 220 million won in 2021 to 2.38 billion won last year.

Clothing and textiles accounted for the largest share of these seizures, representing 54.5% of the total value. Other major categories included cosmetics, bags, and shoes.

Parallel to commercial evasion, reports of identity theft involving personal customs clearance codes have skyrocketed. Suspected cases of code misuse rose from 16,355 in 2023 to 71,440 in 2024. This misuse poses risks of tax evasion and drug smuggling. In response, the Korea Customs Service has begun pilot testing an e-commerce-specific customs platform that incorporates one-time authentication numbers via email or text to prevent unauthorized use of personal identification numbers.