More than half of financial fraud losses reported to Toss Bank in the first half of this year came from new scam tactics. Scams such as review and “like” part-time job fraud and fake order fraud targeting young people and small business owners spread, and cases with losses exceeding 100 million won were confirmed.

Toss Bank said on Thursday that an analysis of financial fraud cases received in the first half of this year, released in its “Financial Fraud Prevention Report Vol.4”, found new scam tactics accounted for 56 percent of the total.

The share of new scams rose to 66 percent in March from 48 percent in January. It fell to 50 percent in April but still accounted for about half of all financial fraud.

A key type is the review and “like” part-time job scam.

Scammers approached victims by saying they would pay small amounts for clicking “likes” on social media posts or writing reviews, then actually deposited money to lower the victims’ guard.

They later demanded advance payments, citing team missions, group purchases and withdrawal conditions, increasing the losses. One case involved a victim transferring a total of 142 million won in 12 transactions.

A fake order scam targeting small business owners was also confirmed.

Toss Bank explained that these scams work by first paying a small amount or presenting forged documents to build trust, then inducing transfers of larger sums. It said it found that the part-time job scam mainly targets young people, while the fake order scam mainly targets small business owners unfamiliar with dealing with public institutions.

An official at Toss Bank’s financial fraud response team said: “Review scams build trust by first paying small amounts, and proxy payment scams paralyze judgment through the credibility of public institutions and the urgency of contracts.” The official added: “The moment you are asked for an advance payment for any reason, stop immediately and contact the Financial Supervisory Service or a financial company.”