Identity Thefts

[Anchor Lead]

Smartphone apps that allow users to register their ID cards on their phones are rising in popularity. But there is also a downside -- such apps are prone to identity thefts and can be misused by teenagers when buying alcohol or cigarettes.

[Pkg]

An ID app developed by a local IT firm. It allows users to register the images of their ID cards in their phones. The problem is -- anyone can do it without undergoing an authorization procedure. This means anyone can register someone else's ID cards on their phones. A test was conducted to check if ID apps can actually be used in real life. Minors are banned from entering this bar.

[Soundbite] (Bar staff) : "Please, have a seat by the window."

Even though the person looks different from the picture on the ID card registered in the phone, entry is granted without thoroughly checking the photo. The owner of this place is also easily fooled by the customer with a non-matching ID card. When the bar owner is told the person is a member of the production crew, he says he thought the ID card had been authorized.

[Soundbite] (Bar staff) : "I didn't doubt it at all, because he said it was a mobile ID card."

In December, a bar owner in Seoul was fined for letting minors enter his facility using fake ID cards registered in their phones.

[Soundbite] (Bar owner (voice modified)) : "I examined the card for one minute, but the customers said that everyone was using mobile ID cards these days. So I believed them."

These days its easy to find minors who try to purchase cigarettes and alcohol in online communities using the ID app. People at the firm that developed the ID app say they had no idea it could be misused like this.

[Soundbite] (Staff at ID app developing firm (voice modified)) : "We have yet to update our service. We can shut it down immediately if there is any misunderstanding."

Although ID cards registered in phone apps have no legal power, they are widely misused by teenagers.