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(Photo = Kakao pay) |
[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Sangjin] Kakao Pay is under scrutiny by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) for allegedly violating the Credit Information Act by transferring personal data of 40.45 million users to China's Alipay without proper consent.
On August 21, it was reported that the FSS is preparing to send a formal inspection report to Kakao Pay, citing violations of Article 32 of the Credit Information Act, which mandates that individual consent must be obtained before providing personal credit information to third parties. Kakao Pay is accused of transferring the data to Alipay, a Chinese payment service provider, from April 2018 without obtaining the necessary consent from its users.
Violating Article 32 of the Credit Information Act could result in criminal penalties, including up to five years in prison or fines of up to ₩50 million. The FSS is considering referring the case to prosecutorial authorities for further investigation, given the scale of the data transfer and the seriousness of the alleged violations.
After issuing the inspection report, the FSS plans to convene a sanctions review committee to determine the appropriate penalties for Kakao Pay. The possibility of referring the case to investigative authorities will also be discussed during this review process.
If the case is referred and the court finds Kakao Pay guilty, it would be the first company to face criminal charges for violating the Credit Information Act on such a large scale. Legal experts suggest that if the case proceeds to investigation, Kakao Pay may have difficulty avoiding criminal liability.
AlphaBIZ Kim SangJin(letyou@alphabiz.co.kr)
