If a Voice-Phishing Report Freezes Your Bank Account, You Have Two Months From the Notice to Object

The basis is the Act on Special Measures for the Prevention of Loss Caused by Telecommunications-Based Financial Fraud and Refund of Loss, usually shortened to the Telecom Fraud Refund Act. The statute exists to return victims' money quickly, and the price of that speed is that the account holder carries the burden of clearing their own name. The deadlines and procedures are written into the articles as numbers, so those numbers are where to start.

A bank freezes the account without a proven crime

Article 4(1) requires a financial institution to freeze an account immediately where one of the following applies and a review of transaction records gives grounds to suspect the account was used for fraud.

• A victim has filed a relief claim, or an investigative agency has requested a freeze
• An investigative agency, the Financial Supervisory Service or similar body has passed on information that the account is suspected of fraudulent use
• The institution's own monitoring flagged the account as a suspected-loss transaction account, identity verification followed, and the account is presumed to be a fraud account
• The institution received information on a fraud account from an investigative agency

No investigation and no trial are required. If a victim files, the bank freezes first. The scope of the freeze is also not the disputed amount but the entire account. A single report about a one-million-won transfer locks a thirty-million-won balance alongside it. The design exists to stop stolen funds from vanishing within minutes, so it is hard to challenge the mechanism itself.

Two clocks run at once — the objection window and the extinction of the claim

Once the freeze is in place the institution must, without delay, ask the Financial Supervisory Service to publish a notice opening the claim-extinction procedure (Article 5), and the FSS then notifies the account holder. Two separate two-month periods start here.

Item	Starting point	Deadline	Provision
Window to file an objection	The day the account was frozen	Until two months have passed, measured from the notice date	Art. 7(1)
Extinction of the claim	The date of the first notice opening the procedure	Extinguished when two months elapse	Art. 9(1)
Determination of refunds	The date the claim was extinguished	Within 14 days	Art. 10(1)

Two months after the notice date, the claim on that account — in plain terms, your legal right to the money that was sitting in it — is extinguished by operation of law. Within 14 days of that extinction the FSS decides how much each victim receives. So "wait for the outcome" is in substance a decision to abandon the right. Finding the notice date on the notification is the first thing to do.

The three grounds on which an objection is accepted

Article 7(1) limits objections to three grounds. This is not a free-text complaint form: you pick the ground that fits and attach evidence built for it.

1. Showing that the account is not a fraud account
2. Showing, with objective evidence, that all or part of the claim to be extinguished was received as consideration for goods or services supplied, or otherwise acquired under legitimate entitlement — except where the circumstances of use, the pattern of dealing and the transaction record indicate that the holder knew, or failed to know through gross negligence
3. Showing, with objective evidence, that the account was not used to obtain the fraudulent proceeds

Second-hand sellers, small business owners and freelancers almost always rely on ground two. You show that you sold something and were paid for it. The load-bearing phrase is "objective evidence." It has to be a document, not an account of events.

What tends to be accepted as objective evidence

The statute does not publish a list, but ground two asks for something a third party can verify: proof that the deposit was consideration for a legitimate transaction. In practice the following are what people submit.

• The marketplace's listing, order history and chat log (an exported record beats a screenshot)
• Tax invoices, cash-receipt records or card settlement statements evidencing the sale
• Tracking numbers and delivery confirmations — evidence the goods actually moved
• Contracts, quotations and service-completion certificates; for wages, an employment contract and payslip
• The account's long-run transaction history, showing what kind of activity is normal for it

What is dangerous, by contrast, is the "somebody asked me to receive the money for them" shape of transaction. The proviso to ground two targets exactly that. Where an account was lent out or a payment collected on someone else's behalf, an objection fails if the holder is found to have known or to have been grossly negligent in not knowing. Lending an account under the guise of a part-time job also carries criminal exposure on top.

Filing an objection does not unlock the account at once

Article 8(1) provides that where an objection is filed, the freeze, the claim-extinction procedure and the restriction on electronic financial transactions shall be terminated. Article 8(2)(2) then carves out an exception: the freeze is not lifted until two months have passed from the day the victim was notified of the account holder's objection.

That paragraph carries a proviso, however. Where the holder sufficiently demonstrates with objective evidence that one of the Article 7(1) grounds applies, and there is good reason to accept it, the freeze may be lifted. Early release, when it happens, happens through this proviso. Which is why an objection should not be filed as a placeholder to be supplemented later — assemble the evidence first and the outcome comes faster.

Why every account closes, not just the one

Alongside the freeze comes a restriction on electronic financial transactions. Under Article 13-2, once the FSS designates a holder as a person restricted from electronic financial transactions, institutions may not process their electronic transactions at all — internet banking, apps and transfers effectively stop. The designation criteria are specific, covering people who transferred or lent access media and for whom three years since a fine or five years since a custodial sentence have not yet passed, and the designation is cancelled once the restriction is terminated under Article 8.

Article 4-2 is worth knowing too. Claims on a frozen account cannot be subject to seizure, provisional seizure, provisional disposition, delinquency proceedings or the creation of a pledge. In exchange, the account holder and the victim may bring actions against each other for a declaration of non-existence of debt or restitution of unjust enrichment. While such an action is pending before a court, the notice opening the claim-extinction procedure is not issued at all (Article 5(1)).

If the two months have already passed — claiming back an extinguished claim

Missing the deadline is not the end. Article 13 allows a holder whose claim has been extinguished to apply to the Financial Supervisory Service for a refund of the extinguished claim. Two requirements must both be met.

• One of the Article 7(1) grounds (the three above) applies
• There was a justifiable reason for not having filed an objection under Article 7(1)

Being abroad, a long hospital stay, or a notification that never arrived are the candidates for "justifiable reason." This is an exceptional route with an extra condition attached, so it is a different order of difficulty from simply filing within the window.

The other side has exposure as well. Article 11-2 provides that a person who files a false victim-relief claim is liable for the loss the account holder suffers as a result. That is the civil basis for a claim against someone who froze your account with a bogus report.

The order of operations on the day the notice arrives

1. Find the notice date on the notification. It is the starting point for every deadline, and the notice itself can be checked with the Financial Supervisory Service.
2. Decide which ground you are arguing. Article 7(1), item 1, 2 or 3. For most people it is item 2, legitimate entitlement.
3. Gather objective evidence. Transaction records, tracking numbers, tax invoices, contracts. Exported originals beat screenshots.
4. File the objection with the bank. The filing point is the institution that imposed the freeze, not the FSS (Article 7(1)).
5. Confirm the filing was accepted. The institution must immediately notify the victim and the FSS (Article 7(2)).
6. Move before the two months are up. Two months from the notice date and the claim is extinguished (Article 9).
7. Change your salary account immediately if this was it. Your pay is locked until the freeze lifts.

When an account is frozen there is one more thing worth checking the same day. Identity theft sometimes runs alongside it, so it is safer to check whether your personal data has leaked and block identity misuse, and to review and block your mobile carrier billing limit at the same time. If instead you are the one who sent money to a fraudster, start with why a payment freeze rarely works in second-hand trading fraud. When a dispute with a financial institution drags on, the mediation route works much like telecommunications dispute mediation.

This article summarises the deadlines and procedures written into the statute and does not substitute for legal advice on an individual case. Where criminal exposure is involved or the amounts are large, consult a lawyer.