Incheon City Introduces Virtual Asset Tracking to Collect Overdue Water Bills

The Incheon City Waterworks Headquarters will pilot a virtual asset tracking system for collecting water bills, the first of its kind nationwide.

According to industry sources on the 29th, the Incheon City Waterworks Headquarters announced it will operate a "second-half special period for organizing overdue water bill amounts" from the 1st of next month to November 30. The main targets are high-amount and habitual delinquent payers with overdue amounts of 500,000 won or more, whose unpaid amounts total 813,000,000 won, accounting for 34% of the total delinquent amount of 2,387,000,000 won.

The bureau plans to issue notices of service suspension and encourage voluntary payment, and if they do not comply, will take strong administrative measures such as delinquency enforcement. In particular, during this organization period, it will introduce a virtual asset tracking system that can identify hidden assets through account inquiries at major exchanges such as Upbit and Bithumb and collection of Korean won. It is expected to improve collection effectiveness compared to existing seizure methods.

For livelihood-type delinquent payers who have difficulty paying due to economic hardship, the bureau will support deferral of service suspension and installment payments, and will also conduct tailored collection in cooperation with welfare departments.

Jang Byung-hyun, head of the Incheon City Waterworks Headquarters, said, "Water bills are an essential revenue directly linked to citizens' lives," and added, "We will do our best to introduce a virtual asset seizure system, the first in the country, to ensure fiscal soundness and management rationalization."