“Check Your Unclaimed Telecom Refunds”... KRW 3 Billion Stagnant for 5 Years
IT DAILY ·
✦ AI Summary
Unclaimed refunds held by customers of the three major mobile carriers, SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus, have remained stuck at around KRW 3 billion for five years.
According to data analyzed on the 23rd by Rep. Han Jun-ho’s office, the trio’s unclaimed balance stood at KRW 3.06 billion as of June 2026.
Although carriers notify customers by SMS and mail and offer balance checks through Smart Choice, refund requests have remained sluggish, raising calls for an automatic refund system.
The amount of unreturned, unclaimed refunds held by customers of the three major mobile carriers, SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus, has remained stuck at around KRW 3 billion for five years, according to an analysis. On the 23rd, Rep. Han Jun-ho’s office analyzed data submitted to the Broadcasting and Media Communications Commission and found that the three carriers’ unclaimed balance stood at KRW 3.06 billion as of June 2026. Han is a member of the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee.
The three carriers notify customers of the existence of unclaimed refunds by SMS and mail. Since 2022, customers have also been able to check for unclaimed refunds on the government telecom fee information portal, Smart Choice. However, the number of refund applications was found to be minimal.
As this situation continues, criticism is growing that telecom companies’ unclaimed refunds have remained stagnant for five years. Along with calls for a system that requires users to pre-register their refund accounts when terminating service, there are also calls for a system that automatically refunds unclaimed balances when they arise.
Telecom unclaimed refunds arise when refunds are due from remaining prepayments and deposits after the termination of wired and wireless services. They also arise when a number is ported, as billing is settled along with the termination of the existing line.
As of June 2026, unclaimed balances by carrier were tallied at SK Telecom's KRW 1.44 billion, LG Uplus' KRW 1 billion, and KT's KRW 620 million.
The carriers send customers annual SMS and mail notices about unclaimed refunds in hundreds of thousands of cases. The number of SMS notices was 729,286 in 2023, 613,692 in 2024, and about 670,000 in 2025.
However, the size of unclaimed refunds remains stagnant. The amount was KRW 3.13 billion in 2022, KRW 2.96 billion in 2025, and KRW 3.06 billion this year. Over the past five years, the amount of unclaimed refunds has remained around KRW 3 billion.
Since 2022, the government has been providing an unclaimed refund inquiry service through the telecom fee information portal Smart Choice. According to Smart Choice data, there were 2,149,745 unclaimed refund inquiries from 2022 through June 2026, while refund applications during the same period totaled 15,963. The application rate was 0.7% relative to inquiries.
Most unclaimed refunds were more than KRW 10,000. As of June 2026, unclaimed refunds of more than KRW 10,000 totaled KRW 2.46 billion. That accounted for 80.4% of the total unclaimed amount.
Regarding the situation, Rep. Han Jun-ho said telecom companies provide annual notices about unclaimed refunds, but the amount has not fallen from around KRW 3 billion. He added that it is necessary to handle refund account registration at the same time as service termination, and that a system should be set up to automatically return unclaimed refunds as soon as they arise, if the user agrees.
Source: IT DAILY · Seong Won-young
Original: https://www.itdaily.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=242407
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Source: IT DAILY
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