It’s a combination of the English word “mask” and the Korean word “saggikkun,” meaning “fraud”.

In South Korea, the number of profile pictures in which users sport a mask has increased sharply according to some apps and many profiles only show the user with a masked appearance.

The result is that numerous Koreans are complaining of being duped when they meet in real life and see their correspondent without a mask.

A phenomenon of “massive mask fraud” that gave rise to this neologism, which is trending in South Korea.

And it’s reached such a level of attention and consternation that the CEO of Blind Date, an online dating app, assured the Korea Herald on Jan 17, 2022 that the application only allowed “one photo with a mask per profile.”

One possible explanation for this phenomenon is that masks allow users to hide part of their face and therefore appear more attractive in their profile.