South Korea’s revised telecommunications-fraud law brings virtual-asset exchanges into a victim-relief framework, allowing people targeted by scams to seek remedies tied to accounts used in fraud.
The amendment took effect Oct. 1. It extends to exchanges procedures previously used through traditional financial institutions, including payment suspensions, refunds and claims-extinguishment procedures for accounts used in fraud. The law places exchanges within that existing framework.
If a refund would be paid in virtual assets, a victim may ask to receive money instead. An exchange may arrange a sale, including by asking an institution designated by South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) to conduct it. The cash option depends on the victim’s request; it is not an automatic payout in every case.
The final enforcement decree sets refunds in monetary amounts or, for virtual assets, by type and quantity. If the asset types differ between what the victim transferred and what remains when a payment suspension begins, the refund follows the type held in the account at that point.
The FSC said virtual assets were being used more often in telecommunications fraud and had not been included among assets eligible for victim relief before the amendment. It described the change as extending protections already available through traditional financial institutions. The FSC also identified victims unfamiliar with virtual assets or without an exchange account among the people the expanded relief is intended to reach.
