Seoul, December 29 – South Korean e-commerce giant Coupang has announced a compensation plan worth 1.68 trillion won (approximately 1.17 billion dollars) following a massive data leak. The company revealed this information on Monday.
The decision came a day after Coupang’s founder Kim Bom-suk publicly apologized. Nearly two-thirds of South Korea’s population were affected by this data breach.
According to the company, Coupang will provide each of its 33.7 million customers with coupons and discounts worth 50,000 won (around ₹3,000). This includes paid members of Coupang Wow, regular users, and even former customers who have closed their accounts.
The compensation will begin to be distributed from January 15.
Harold Rogers, Coupang’s interim CEO, stated that the company will take full responsibility and prioritise customer trust by learning from this incident.
The 50,000 won compensation per customer includes coupons for different services: 5,000 won for Coupang’s shopping service, 5,000 won for Coupang Eats food delivery, 20,000 won for travel services, and 20,000 won for RLUX, a luxury beauty and fashion service.
Last week, Coupang said that an ex-employee was found responsible for the data leak after investigations. The company also recovered the hacking tools used, and the accused has admitted to the crime. Coupang claimed that about 3,000 accounts’ data were saved by the individual but later deleted.
However, the government has described Coupang’s claim as one-sided. It said that reports from ongoing government and private investigations are yet to be made public.
On November 29, Coupang confirmed that private information of 33.7 million customers was leaked, a number far exceeding the initial 4,500 accounts reported to authorities on November 20.
The company stated that in the September quarter, active users of Coupang were 24.7 million, suggesting that nearly all users could have been affected by this data leak.
The leaked information included customers’ names, phone numbers, email IDs, and delivery addresses.
Bhupendra Singh Chundawat is a seasoned technology journalist with over 22 years of experience in the media industry. He specializes in covering the global technology landscape, with a deep focus on manufacturing trends and the geopolitical impact on tech companies. Currently serving as the Editor at Readhis insights are shaped by decades of hands-on reporting and editorial leadership in the fast-evolving world of technology.
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