Coupang, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, recently disclosed a massive security failure that impacted 33.7 million customer accounts in South Korea. The company revealed that the breach began in June 2025 but was not discovered until mid-November. According to official filings, the unauthorized access originated through overseas servers and involved the theft of personal details such as names, phone numbers, delivery addresses, and email addresses.
The company identified the perpetrator as a former employee who also managed to access specific order histories for a portion of the affected users. In response to the scale of the incident, Coupang has committed to a massive financial compensation package totaling roughly 1.17 billion dollars. This plan aims to address the concerns of every individual who received a notification regarding the leak of their private information.
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Starting January 15, 2026, Coupang will distribute one-time purchase vouchers valued at 50,000 won to all 33.7 million affected individuals. This compensation applies to both standard members and those enrolled in the Wow membership program. Remarkably, the company has also included former customers who have already deactivated their accounts but were victims of the breach during the time their data was stored.
Interim CEO Harold Rogers stated that the initiative is a reflection of the company’s commitment to customer-centricity and its desire to regain the trust of the public. The massive expenditure is seen as a necessary step to fulfill the company’s responsibilities after such a significant lapse in data security. The company hopes that this proactive approach will stabilize its reputation in the competitive South Korean market.
Despite the scale of the breach, Coupang founder Kim Bum-seok provided some reassurance by noting that the stolen data has been recovered and the intruder’s hardware has been seized. Investigations suggests that while millions of accounts were technically accessed, the information actually stored on the leaker’s device was limited to 3,000 cases. The company maintains that no data was sold or circulated externally, though investigations remain ongoing to confirm all details of the theft.
Source: Coupang To Issue 1.17 Billion Dollars In Vouchers Following Customer Data Breach