Secondhand sellers are being lured from major platforms into KakaoTalk open chats with promises of avoiding safety-payment fees. The link they receive imitates a Naver Pay checkout page, while the account shown for the transfer is reportedly in another person’s name. Police data submitted to the National Assembly in April 2026 put losses from direct-trade scams in 2025 at 874.07 billion won, 3.4 times the 2021 figure.
