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(Photo= Yonhap news) |
[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Sangjin] On the 4th, it was reported that the Seoul Suseo Police Station has launched an investigation into allegations that Kakao Pay transferred approximately 54.7 billion pieces of customer credit information to China's Alipay without consent. This case involves current and former executives of Kakao Pay.
According to Seoul Economic Daily and police sources, the police have begun investigating the case involving violations of the Credit Information Use and Protection Act. They plan to summon the representative of the civic group who filed the complaint on the 9th of this month for questioning.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) revealed on the 13th of last month that Kakao Pay had sent customer data to Alipay, a financial payment company under Alibaba, without consent. The data included Kakao Pay IDs, phone numbers, email addresses, and transaction history of all users who had used Kakao Pay at least once between April 2018 and the present, totaling 40.45 million people.
The civic group Free Korea Defense Association filed a complaint against Kakao Pay CEO Shin Won-keun and former CEO Ryu Young-jin for violating the Credit Information Act. However, the prosecution transferred the case to the police on the 24th of last month.
The FSS is investigating the case as a potential violation of the Credit Information Act and considering whether to refer it for criminal prosecution. Kakao Pay has argued that the transfer of information was part of normal business operations and did not require customer consent, suggesting that the dispute may become contentious.
AlphaBIZ Kim SangJin(letyou@alphabiz.co.kr)
