Long lines form at SK Telecom stores as customers rush to replace USIM cards after hacking incident

People line up outside an SK Telecom store in Jongno-gu, Seoul, before opening hours on April 28, as the company begins offering free USIM card replacements following the recent hacking incident. By reporter Han Su-bin

On the morning of April 28, long lines formed outside SK Telecom stores across Seoul as customers rushed to replace their USIM cards. In response to the recent hacking incident, SK Telecom, Korea’s major mobile carrier, promised free physical USIM card replacements to its customers of over 25 million people. Many were unable to replace their cards due to stock shortages, expressing outrage that “customers were bearing the consequences of SK Telecom’s failure.”

By 8:40 a.m., around 50 people were already waiting in line outside an SKT store in Jongno-gu, central Seoul. A 51-year-old office worker surnamed Park said, “I came an hour early to get this done before work,” and added, “I recently switched to SKT to get a family discount, and now I regret it bitterly.” By the time the store opened at 9 a.m., the number of people waiting had grown to about 250. As soon as the doors opened, customers raised their voices, saying, “I made a reservation online over the weekend, but why aren’t you honoring it?” and “I came Saturday and left my contact information, but you want me to wait again?” Similar scenes unfolded elsewhere. Around 9:30 a.m., the line outside another SKT store in Mapo-gu stretched more than 40 meters. Staff began handing out queue tickets, but by around 10:40 a.m., the USIM card stock had run out. One customer shouted, “What’s the point of giving out numbers if you don’t have any stock?” Those unable to get their USIM cards replaced voiced anxiety and anger. Park Kyu-young, 66, said, “It’s SKT’s fault, but customers are the ones forced to wait for hours.”

In Busan, police received a report that an SKT subscriber had a new budget phone opened without his knowledge and had 50 million won taken out of his account. According to the Busan Nambu Police Station, Mr. A in her 60s experienced a sudden loss of service on her SKT phone on April 22. She later learned that her contract with SKT had been terminated and that a new budget phone under KT had been opened in her name without her knowledge. That same day, five transfers of 10 million won each were made from her account to an unknown recipient. Police are currently investigating whether these incidents are a typical phishing scam or connected to the recent leak of SKT subscribers’ USIM information.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.

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