Th number of reporting on the illegal soliciting credit card application has increased after the upward compensation change. (image: rubenerd/flickr)
SEOUL, July 6 (Korea Bizwire) – “Carparazzi,” a coined word combining words ‘credit card’ and ‘pararazzi,’ Korea’s unique compensation scheme for the citizens to report on any illegal soliciting credit card application, does the trick, according to the authorities responsible for the reward system for the public good purpose.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service of Korea, which raised the reward for Carparazzi, the number of reporting on illegal practice to cajole consumers to subscribe to new credit card service, has increased five times, compared with the previous reporting cases.
The authorities has shored up the Carparazzi scheme by enacting raised reward money for reporting and the extension of time to file such reporting, starting from June 1. The compensation for the ‘citizen-led surveillance’ policy for the illegal credit card issuance practice, saw an upgrade — from 200,000 won (about US$200) to a handsome one million won (about US$1,000) for the effective reporting, and the reporting time period was also extended from within 20 days of the illegal act to within 60 days.
※ Varied types of vigilante-paparazzi schemes in Korea
There are “seonparazzi,” who specialize in pursuing election law violators; “ssuparazzi,” who target illegal acts of dumping garbage; and “seongparazzi,” who target prostitution, which is illegal in South Korea. (LA Times)
As a result, the number of the illegal soliciting reporting cases has witnessed a surging number to 67 reports in last month from the monthly average of 11 cases, more than five times increase, proving the conventional wisdom that money encourages people to play a more active part in public good.
According to the government, since the Carparazzi scheme was introduced on December 1 of 2012, there have been 259 reporting cases in total on illegal credit card soliciting by the nation’s financial industry. And Shinhan Card topped the “discreditable” reporting subject list: The cumulative number of reporting against the card company scored 80 cases. Other credit card brands including Samsung Card (49 reports), Hyundai Card (28 reports), Lotte Card (25 reports), KEB card (23 reports) and Kookmin Card (10 reports) followed the “marketing abuse” rank list.
The Financial Supervisory Service announced that it will impose heavy penalties for illegal acts of the industry which include acquiescence or aiding on the illegal soliciting credit card application, widely practiced by many branch managers across the industry. It also plans to enforce the industry to introduce new bylaws aimed at applying sanctions against “illegally operated” branches.
The rectification measures will be phased in depending on the number of reporting to be filed against them; first-time violator of these clauses will receive a verbal warning; a second time offender, an official warning. When the branch is caught more than three times of the Carparazzi reporting, it will have severe disciplinary measures. As part of preventing the recurrence of the illegal act, the cumulative cases of Carparazzi reporting will be open to the public every quarter of the year.
Written by J. H. Kim (jhkim@koreabizwire.com)
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