Nearly half of e-cigarette vending machines in Seoul fooled by fake IDs

Nearly half of all e-cigarette vending machines in Seoul accepted forged identification cards as valid, a city-wide inspection has found.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government inspected 339 tobacco vending machines at e-cigarette retailers across the city and found that 168 of them — 49.5 percent of the total — allowed purchases using fake IDs.

Scan-type machines proved particularly vulnerable. Of the 288 machines that scan ID cards, 125 — or 56.5 percent — accepted forged documents. Among the 55 machines that require physical card insertion, only six, or 10.2 percent, were susceptible. The city carried out the inspection from April 1 through May 22, covering 666 establishments in total: 640 registered e-cigarette retailers and 26 unregistered ones. Of those, 461 were staffed, 162 were unmanned and 43 operated as a mix of both. Staffed outlets with vending machines were also included in the survey. The number of registered e-cigarette retailers in Seoul has since grown to 758 as of Tuesday.

To test the machines, the city used five forged IDs: one featuring the cartoon character Dooly, two fabricated national ID cards bearing a staff member's photo, and two fake driver's licenses. The inspection was conducted ahead of a full enforcement crackdown by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which is set to begin Wednesday after a two-month grace period for liquid e-cigarettes.

An amendment to the Tobacco Business Act that took effect in April brought synthetic-nicotine liquid e-cigarettes under the legal definition of "tobacco," subjecting their vending machines to adult-verification regulations that have applied to conventional tobacco vending machines since 2004.

Under the enforcement rules of the National Health Promotion Act, all tobacco vending machines must be equipped with an adult-verification device — such as an ID reader or credit card payment system. Operators who install or sell tobacco vending machines without such a device face a fine of up to 3 million won ($1,950).

The problem is that no penalty exists for machines that malfunction and fail to properly verify age. Seoul city officials said legal counsel concluded that while fines can be imposed for failing to install an adult-verification device under the National Health Promotion Act, penalties for malfunctions are not applicable. The Ministry of Health and Welfare received the same legal advice.

"We have submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Health and Welfare requesting a revision to the relevant regulations," a Seoul city official said. A ministry official said the agency has been "reviewing possible legislative amendments in coordination with related departments since May."