Police recorded 5,519 illegal private-lending cases last year, 3.1 times the 2022 level. Some lenders have used borrower photos to create sexual deepfakes and threaten distribution as a collection tactic, with people aged 30 or younger making up 27.2% of victims in the cited data.
Korean law treats contracts tied to this kind of illegal lending as void for both principal and interest, while free legal support has been expanded to family members facing threats.