South Korea to require face scans to buy a SIM

South Korea has introduced mandatory facial recognition scans for purchasing mobile SIM cards, aiming to curb scams fueled by stolen personal data. The Ministry of Science and ICT announced the policy on Friday, requiring the country's three major carriers—SK Telecom, LG Uplus, and Korea Telecom—to verify new customers' identities using biometric data stored in the "PASS" app.

This builds on existing rules mandating verifiable ID documents at purchase points. The measure addresses widespread criminal use of fraudulently registered phone accounts for voice phishing and other scams. Officials stated the added facial verification will

"make it much harder to register a mobile phone account using only stolen data."

The decision follows two major data breaches in 2025 affecting over half of South Korea's 52 million residents. E-tailer Coupang exposed more than 30 million records, leading to its CEO's resignation. SK Telecom suffered a breach impacting all 23 million customers after storing millions of user credentials without encryption and exposing plaintext infrastructure passwords on an internet-facing server.

Authorities previously fined SK Telecom $100 million for these security failures. On Sunday, the Consumer Dispute Mediation Commission ordered an additional $1.55 billion in compensation—?100,000 ($67) per customer, split between bill credits and retail loyalty points.

Mobile Virtual Network Operators accounted for 92 percent of detected counterfeit phones in 2024, contributing to the problem. The new biometric requirement takes effect to strengthen identity verification across the sector.