Voice phishing techniques are becoming more and more insidious.
Beyond the poor Korean-Chinese language and online money extortion in the past, scammers are using messengers and hacking apps to dig into the most vulnerable parts of victims.
The so-called face-to-face extortion method, in which the victim directly meets with the victim and receives money, is also increasing rapidly.
The number of face-to-face deception scams through voice phishing increased nearly fivefold in one year, from 3,200 cases in 2019 to 15,000 cases in 2020.
In December of last year, a man in his 30s who was working in Seoul directly handed 104 million won for three days to a voice phishing criminal who pretended to be a prosecutor.
Mr. Lee said that he did not give money without any doubt from the beginning.
I even sent an official letter with the prosecutor's name and seal to Mr. Lee.
It is said that he had penetrated personal information such as Lee's resident registration number and e-mail address.
How did the voice phishing scammers know about Mr. Lee's personal information? A man in his 60s living in Gyeonggi-do received a text message from a bank explaining loan products two months ago.
He thought it was an opportunity to switch to a low-interest loan product because he had borrowed 13 million won from a loan company, so he immediately called the bank marked on the text message.
In response, the bank employee sent a link saying that he could apply for a loan through the app.
I installed the app and applied for a loan, but it turned out to be voice phishing impersonating a financial institution.
The first voice phishing incident in Korea occurred in June 2006.
Although 15 years have passed since then, the number of voice phishing incidents continues to increase.
In particular, in the case of face-to-face fraud, it is difficult to punish because it does not fall under the current law as a telecommunication financial fraud.
Currently, fraudsters are exploiting the limitations of this legal network.
Police also say that it is structurally difficult to apprehend the main culprit, as most of the voice phishing headquarters and call centers are located in China.
This week's SBS <News Story> will focus on the current situation of voice phishing scams and measures to eradicate them, which are becoming increasingly cunning and even victims of lawyers and teachers.