Hackers leak GiftiL refund applicants' data in South Korea

A hacking incident at GiftiL, a Lotte-affiliated mobile voucher (coupon) service, led to a leak of customer personal information. Customers who entered account information when applying for voucher refunds were among those affected.

According to the industry on the 25th, Spoon, the operator of GiftiL, confirmed on the 22nd that an external, unauthorized access led to a leak of some customers' personal information. Spoon is a subsidiary wholly owned through 100% equity by Daehong Communications, an advertising affiliate of Lotte Group.

GiftiL is a mobile product exchange voucher service for Lotte-affiliated dining brands such as Lotteria and Angel-in-us. It handles the issuance and refunds of exchange vouchers that can be swapped for specific products, such as a Lotteria bulgogi burger set or an Angel-in-us Americano. This is a different service from Lotte Mobile Gift Certificate, a digital stored-value certificate for Lotte Department Store operated by Lotte Members.

The leaked information this time is not data for all GiftiL users, but for customers who directly entered their bank account information when applying for coupon refunds. The leaked items are four: name, mobile phone number, email address, and refund account number. The specific scale of the leak is currently being assessed.

Upon recognizing the incident, Spoon blocked the attacking IP and strengthened system access controls. It reported the case to a security agency and relevant government departments and requested an investigation, and is notifying affected customers individually via MMS text messages.

Through a notice on its website, the company urged customers to beware of text messages, emails, and calls from unknown sources and not to click suspicious links. If financial fraud using the leaked account information is suspected, it recommended checking accounts through services such as the integrated account information management service and, if necessary, taking payment-suspension measures.

A Daehong Communications official said, "We are verifying the extent of the damage, and no specific compensation plan has been finalized yet," adding, "We will do our best to prevent further harm and recurrence."

GiftiL also operates GiftiL Biz, a corporate mobile gift certificate delivery platform. The platform handles 3,000 products from around 150 brands, including Lotte Mart and Lotte Cinema as well as Starbucks and Baemin, and is used for sending promotional prizes and employee welfare gifts for corporations.