Over 40 million Kakao Pay users' data somehow ended up with Alipay

Kakao Pay allegedly handed over personal data for more than 40 million users to Alipay's Singapore division without consent — including Kakao Account IDs, phone numbers, emails, subscription history, transactions and credit-related information. South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service found the sharing illegal, criticized weak encryption and inadequate contracts, noted the cross-border transfer exacerbates legal issues, and is launching legal reviews and inspections; Kakao Pay disputes the findings and cites business processing needs.