“This is a suspicious account” ... Toss guards the money-transfer gateway against youth gambling

[Financial News] Toss (operated by Viva Republica) is using technology to protect underage members from illegal gambling. When they try to transfer money to a suspicious account, Toss immediately alerts them to prevent mistaken transfers before they happen.
On the 20th, Toss announced the launch of “Our Child Guardian,” a service that sends real-time warnings when underage members try to transfer money to accounts suspected of illegal gambling. The service covers minors ages 7 to 18.
The measure comes as the age at which teenagers are first exposed to illegal gambling is falling. Toss has expanded its coverage to include younger teens who were not adequately covered by its existing safeguards. It acts as a protective barrier for users who are relatively less able to assess risks on their own.
The protection takes effect at the transfer stage. When an underage member tries to send money to an account suspected of illegal gambling, a warning screen appears immediately. It explains that the account is suspected of being linked to illegal gambling, as well as the risks and potential penalties associated with transferring gambling funds. Users can then cancel the transfer voluntarily or report the account immediately.
Once a report is received, it undergoes internal verification, and the findings are fed back into risk-account data and the Fraud Detection System (FDS). This creates a virtuous cycle of reporting, verification, updates to risk-account information and further detection.
However, unlike fraud schemes such as voice phishing, gambling involves users making the transfers themselves, so transfers made intentionally cannot be forcibly stopped. In particular, since an account marked “suspicious” has not been definitively confirmed as illicit, arbitrarily restricting an individual’s transfers could amount to excessive intervention.
Toss has added a further feature for members under 14. If they try to transfer money to an account confirmed to receive gambling funds, a notification is sent to a parent or another legal guardian who has given prior consent. Rather than detailed financial transaction information, only the minimum essential details are shared: the fact that a transaction was attempted, the type of risk, the fact that it was detected, and when it occurred.
Toss conducted two months of preliminary verification in July and August. Using its internal classification system, it identified around 400 accounts deemed to pose a high gambling risk. An investigation of attempted transfers to those accounts confirmed that every account included in the review was related to gambling. Toss also identified around 3,800 accounts warranting caution over gambling and continues to monitor them.
A Toss representative said, “We determined that a mechanism was needed to let guardians intervene early, since younger teenagers may have difficulty assessing the risks and illegality of gambling on their own. We will continue to improve the system so that technology can detect risks early and families can respond together.”

[email protected] Kim Tae-il Reporter