Am I the only one who thinks, in light of the Lone Star shenanigans, this looks just as suspicious as the scourge it’s supposed to fight?
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This entry was written by Dram_man, posted on July 11, 2007 at 2:07 pm, filed under Asides, Ministry of Barbarian Affairs. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
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21 Comments
It’s hard to figure out what that story is trying to say because it’s written so poorly. The Financial Supervisory Commission is “considering curtailing the sum of money foreigners’ bank accounts can hold”? It’s going to tell banks to restrict the amount of money they take in deposits? WTF? Do they tell Samsung how much profit it can make?
“It is also contemplating putting [sic] the upper limit of money transfers by foreign account holders” I thought Korea already capped bank transfers at $10,000 a year for us proles?
How would this stop “voice phishing” or what does it have to do with this in the first place?
Interesting info.
By the way, I counted three typos in that article and then quit.
To #1:
Like you, I had trouble getting the point of the article.
However, to answer your question about how these steps would stop “voice phishing”, I think the idea being considered involves putting a limit on both account balances and the amount that a foreigner may wire out of the country, thus preventing the ethnic Chinese mentioned from putting vast amounts of ill-gotten gains in their accounts and then wiring those funds overseas. At least that’s how I read it. So it wouldn’t stop the voice phishing per se, but would make it hard for the criminals to get away with the loot.
Proofreader wanted: Please apply at Korea Times online edition.
So all “foreigners” are to be punished for the acts of a few. The typical lazy-assed Korean Krackdown approach.
That’s right. These Chinese grifters would have to come to Seoul and spend it here, in cash, on illicit, knockoff booze and Korean whores. They’ll have to buy Korean properties with their ill-gotten gains, or launder the money in the Namdaemun currency curb market. It’s not the fraud that bothers people — it’s the “loss of national wealth”.
So, what happens if I manage to save more than the cap placed on bank accounts held by foreigners and have reached the cap for transfering money out of the country in a year?
Open additional bank accounts? Ask to be paid in cash and hide the money in my mattress? Host a blowout party with copious amounts of the aforementioned illicit, knockoff booze and Korean whores?
This reminds me of the Korean government’s approach to banning the beheading of Kim Sun-il:
Block all internet domains that have any website hosting the video of Kim Sun-il’s beheading.
That’s the government’s nuanced approach. Let’s hope that the government doesn’t get ham-handed about this new problem.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
you guys ought to take a moment to wipe the froth from your mouths.
MJW, how did you know that we were drinking beer?
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Notice that phishing by Korean nationals would not be affected. Arguably, with foreign competitors hampered by restrictions under this proposal, Korean criminals would have more of the market to themselves. ‘Blue ocean’ for the local gangs - high five!
I’m curious to know where all the “ethnic Chinese fluent in Korean” are. I’ve been to China, to Northeast China near the North Korea border in particular, and haven’t been able to find all that many Chinese who could speak Korean. There are a ton of ethnic-Korean Chinese citizens who are bilingual (actually, trilingual ’cause a lot can speak good English too), but for some reason my observation and experience was that not so many Chinese think it important to study Korean.
I wonder why the papers want to make it look as if the criminals aren’t ethnic-Korean Chinese?
Seoul imposes W17b in taxes on GE Korea
https://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2007/07/11/200707110047.asp
It seems that foreign businesses are being targeted.
I’m amazed that so many Koreans would give up valuable data like credit card numbers and passwords over the phone. There’s the problem, folks. As #10 noted, this proposed law wouldn’t stop Koreans, who probably do most of the phishing. Educating Koreans about guarding personal and financial data would make far more sense, but this law obviously isn’t about making sense or cutting down on phishing. It’s just a cover for putting further limits on foreigners’ taking money out of the country.
@#11: I think the “ethnic Chinese” are bilingual residents of Korea.
Some of this is a valid effort to crack down on scams but I also have been getting the sense over the last year that there is an effort being made to make it more difficult for people like us to take “Korea’s” wealth home with us.
Both Citi Bank and Kookmin (KB) now demand a letter (stating earnings) from an employer as proof that the funds you are transferring have been earned legally. Not much you can do about that as a crack down is probably long overdue in this country. However, the line of questioning that a Koomin branch manager tried to unleash on me when I last sent home a fair sum of cash home was definitely over the line.
Since this was right after the nuclear testing incident in the North, I am sure there was some apprehension foreigners may clear out their deposits with banks. That said, it has none the less been getting more difficult to get even legally earned funds out of Korea in the last year.
The tone of the article smacks of:
“Foreigners are the source of this (all) crime(s), so the best way to prevent crime(s) is to blame the foreigners”.
Mmm, hmm. Sort of like that myth that all illegal drugs in Korea are here because of foreigners.
So, in other words, foreigners are guilty until…well…guilty.
“However, the line of questioning that a Koomin branch manager tried to unleash on me when I last sent home a fair sum of cash home was definitely over the line.”
So, if it’s difficult for foreigners to get their money out of Korea, will they pause before putting it in ? You betcha. This will do nothing but discourage foreigners from investing in Korea in the first place.
Transparency : out
Barriers : in
Be careful what you wish for, Hermit Kingdom, you just might get it. I predict Korea will slip further down the GDP rankings.
“However, the line of questioning that a Koomin branch manager tried to unleash on me when I last sent home a fair sum of cash home was definitely over the line.”
In fairness to kookmin Bank, I understand this branch manager was doing his job which is to keep deposits in the bank. However, doing a way with witch hunts for foreign companies that get the best of Koreans… a legal system that that favors the locals and… the crazy brother up North who likes to shoot off fireworks would be far more effective.
“koomin”…Kookmin “a way”…away
Sorry, guess typing and driving can both be dangerous when tired.
motherfrackers! everyone of ‘em. and not the phishing scammers, i mean the lazy-ass government tools who dreamed this up. don’t they realize how many “foreigners” open bank accounts and then hand over that account to an “education company” to “manage”? it sounds like a scam and no doubt dubious things happen with these accounts, so crackdown on that instead.
#12 Sonagi: Koreans = bah hah hah hah; you only have to sound official or be overly demanding and most people do what they’re told without thinking about it. it’s so easy to take advantage of people here because of exactly the lack of education about things like protecting your money, passwords, etc. education before regulation is a much better approach.
#13 Creo: i haven’t had to cough up any letters for Kookmin—yet. but i also haven’t tried to send over 2k in a long time. it’s the same documents and form and nosy flipping through my passbook, but no further inquires.
The culprits are ETHNIC Chinese right.. not Joseon jok, who would also be fluent in Korean.
Who’d give their bank details to someone speaking Korean with a foreign accent anyway?..some locals or our Joseon jok must be helping out.
I remember reading a similar story a few months ago. I distinctly remember that Korean gangs were involved and that the people who opened the bank accounts were Korea citizens, on lady investigated claimed that she had been paid only 75000won in exchange for her account.
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