Toss and KNPA Launch Joint Campaign to Prevent Youth Gambling

• Public Private Partnership to solve youth gambling issue, dealing with ordinary children struggling with extraordinary problems
• Campaign activities include video content, Instagram posts, a microsite, and outdoor signs at the National Police Agency building

Viva Republica, the operator of the financial super app "Toss," announced the launch of a youth gambling prevention campaign in partnership with the National Police Agency.

Toss and the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA)have partnered up and aim to raise awareness on youth gambling as a widespread and serious issue through this campaign. The campaign emphasizes that youth gambling requires the active attention and intervention from adults as it is difficult for children to quit gambling on their own and often leads to secondary crimes such as fraud and violence.

Toss has taken a new approach to this problem. By modifying and photoshopping the faces of real teenagers with gambling experience, Toss created a virtual 16-year-old named “Doyoung Park.” For five weeks, this virtual character ran an Instagram account, posting about his ordinary daily activities. This campaign was designed to demonstrate how difficult it is to detect gambling addiction in teens and to challenge parent’s common assumption that “my child would never gamble.”

Additionally, a special production campaign video delivers a powerful message: youth gambling is an extraordinary problem affecting ordinary kids. This video highlights how any teenager can easily fall into online gambling regardless of their academic performance, behavior, or background. This campaign video is available on Toss’ official YouTube channel.

Toss also created a microsite (homepage) that provides details about the campaign. The website describes the purpose and details of the campaign, while providing a space where users can share their thoughts on the campaign and leave supportive messages for teens struggling with gambling. The website also links to the National Police Agency’s Electronic Cybercrime Report & Management System and Korea Problem Gambling Agency where youths can take a self-assessment test for gambling addiction.

To further spread awareness, the campaign includes a "Picket Relay." The first participant, Commissioner General Ji ho Cho, nominated Seunggun Lee, CEO of Toss as the next relay participant. “We are pleased to collaborate with Toss on this campaign to prevent youth gambling,” a representative of the Korean National Police Agency said. “We plan to spread our message through nationwide police department outdoor billboards, social channels, and honorary police members, to ensure that the seriousness of youth gambling is widely recognized across society.”

“We hope this campaign helps more people recognize the severity of youth gambling and help them actively participate in prevention and recovery efforts,” a Toss representative said. “As many teenagers use Toss for financial services, we feel a strong responsibility to build a robust safety net and take a leading role in social protection efforts.”

Meanwhile, Toss continues its efforts to combat youth gambling through its services. The “Scam Guard for Family” feature within the Toss app alerts family members when suspicious transactions related to gambling, voice phishing, or identity theft occur. It alerts other family members of the type of suspicious activity and when it has happened. Additionally, users attempting to transfer money to accounts suspected of illegal gambling will receive an on-screen warning, to help users be cautious. The Toss Bank official website also provides a service where users can report accounts suspected of being used for illegal gambling transactions.