YouTube under fire as overseas shopping scam ads surge
A cheap online purchase can become an expensive lesson, with Seoul officials warning that complaints tied to overseas shopping sites promoted through YouTube ads surged sharply in the first half of 2026. The Seoul Electronic Commerce Center and Korea Consumer Agency received 359 related consumer complaints so far this year, reaching 142 in June, about 4.6 times the 31 recorded in January. The…
South Korean officials have warned that complaints related to overseas shopping sites advertised through YouTube surged dramatically in the first half of 2026. The Seoul Electronic Commerce Center and Korea Consumer Agency received 359 complaints so far in 2026, compared to 142 in June - a 4.6-fold increase from the 31 complaints reported in January.
The majority of the complaints - 24 percent - were due to misleading advertising, with sellers refusing refunds or canceling orders. Another 21.7 percent of complaints stemmed from sellers becoming unreachable, while 13.4 percent were due to delivery issues and 11.4 percent were attributed to excessive return fees. One consumer received thin fleece-lined winter pants instead of the warmer pair advertised on YouTube, according to Seoul officials.
Clothing and fashion items made up 63.2 percent of the complaints, followed by furniture (11.1 percent) and health and hygiene products (10.6 percent).
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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- YouTube under fire as overseas shopping scam ads surge koreatimes.co.kr
