□ Wang Gang, our reporter in South Korea
In recent years, the number of telecom fraud cases in South Korea has soared, and criminal methods and routines have emerged one after another.
In order to eradicate the crime of telecommunications fraud, the South Korean government recently announced the establishment of a joint investigation team to crack down on telecommunications fraud and maintain the safety of people's funds.
The joint investigation team consists of the Prosecutor's Office, the National Police Agency, the Financial Services Commission, the Financial Supervisory Service, and the Broadcasting and Communications Commission.
Telecom fraud soars
On July 29, the establishment ceremony of the joint investigation team aimed at combating telecom fraud was held at the Eastern District Prosecutor's Office in Seoul and officially started its operations.
South Korea's Acting Attorney General and Deputy Chief Prosecutor's Office Lee Won-seok (transliteration), Chief Prosecutor's Office Anti-Corruption and Major Crime Minister Shin Bong-soo, Seoul Eastern District Prosecutor's Office Chief Prosecutor Im Kwan-hyo, South Korean Police Agency Director of Investigation Yoon Seung-young, and National Tax Service Director of Investigation Oh Hao-sun attended the event. inauguration ceremony.
South Korean politicians, legal professionals and ordinary people all hope that the establishment of the joint investigation team will help curb and even eradicate the increasingly rampant telecommunications fraud crimes across the country.
In 2006, the first case of victims of telecom fraud occurred in South Korea. In the following 16 years, the losses caused by telecom fraud continued to increase.
In recent years, the number of Korean telecom fraud victims and the amount involved have snowballed.
According to the monitoring data released by the Korea Financial Supervisory Service recently, as the new crown epidemic makes non-face-to-face online life more and more common, the number of telecommunications fraud crimes in South Korea has increased sharply.
In 2021, the total amount of telecommunications fraud cases involved is 168.2 billion won (1 won is about 0.0052 yuan), of which the amount of instant messaging telecommunications fraud is 99.1 billion won, a year-on-year increase of 165.7%, posing as "public security law" and Internet loan-type telecommunications fraud The amounts involved in the crimes were 17 billion won and 52.1 billion won respectively.
According to the monitoring data of the Korea Financial Supervisory Service, the amount of telecommunications fraud involving banks was 108 billion won, and the amount of fraud involving securities companies was 22 billion won, with the latter soaring by 144.4% year-on-year.
This is because under the epidemic, the contactless account opening services and open banking services of securities companies and other non-bank financial institutions have given fraudsters an opportunity.
Among those defrauded by age groups, those aged 40 to 59 were defrauded the most, with an amount of 87.3 billion won, followed by those over 60 with an amount of 61.4 billion won.
Relevant surveys also show that since 2019, there has been an increasing number of telecommunications fraud cases targeting seniors over 60 in South Korea.
Routines emerge in an endless stream
While the number of telecommunications fraud cases in South Korea has soared, the criminal methods and criminal routines used by criminals emerge in an endless stream.
Some telecom fraud criminals impersonate the victim's family members or relatives through mobile phone text messages and instant messaging software KAKAOTALK to defraud personal information, bank card information, etc.
There are also scammers under the guise of "vaccination", "anti-epidemic subsidies" and "general election polls".
According to South Korean media reports, on August 3, the Second Criminal Division of the Western District Court in Seoul, South Korea just sentenced a typical instant telecommunications fraud case, and sentenced the criminal A to 2 years in prison and 3 years of probation for the crime of fraud.
According to the investigation of the Korean court, the fraud groups involved in this case have a clear division of labor and ingenious design. They took advantage of the victims' covetousness for money and weak defense psychology to select targets to carry out telecommunication fraud.
The judges who participated in the trial reminded that there have been frequent telecommunications and financial frauds in Korea recently, and fraudulent organizations have divided labor and cooperated to design in advance, adopting methods such as "providing low-interest loans" or "converting original loans into low-interest loans" to carry out fraud. In the case, the criminal gang asked the victim to make a loan according to a fake financial app, and asked the victim to return all or part of the fake "loan" in cash, which requires the general public to be especially vigilant.
This case is not an exception.
Li Yuanxi, who attended the inauguration ceremony of the joint investigation team on July 29, pointed out that the crime of telecommunication fraud is a crime that violates people's livelihood.
However, South Korean media reported that compared with the amount involved in telecommunications fraud crimes that have increased year by year, the proportion that can be recovered is relatively small.
For example, of the amount involved in the case in 2021, only 60.3 billion won will be returned to Zhao, and the proportion of recovered losses will only account for 35.9% of the amount involved.
set up a joint investigation team
It is precisely in order to combat the increasingly rampant crime of telecommunications fraud that the South Korean government established a joint investigation team headed by a minister-level prosecutor to eradicate telecommunications fraud.
According to South Korean media reports, the joint investigation team will set up a comprehensive declaration response center. In the future, just dial 112 to receive one-stop services from consultation to investigation.
In addition, the government joint investigation team on telecommunications fraud is composed of relevant agencies such as the Public Prosecutor's Office, the National Police Agency, the Financial Commission, the Financial Supervisory Service, and the Broadcasting and Communications Commission.
It is understood that after the establishment of the joint investigation team, the Korean Prosecutor's Office and the National Police Agency will jointly carry out all aspects of work from arresting criminals to prosecution.
Specifically, the police will be responsible for the investigation of fake passbooks, fake mobile phone circulation organizations and the arrest of criminals.
The Financial Supervisory Service and the Broadcasting and Communications Commission will be responsible for the administrative punishment of accounts and communication devices used for criminal acts.
The Customs Service and the National Tax Service will be responsible for tracking funds, investigating the transfer of victimized funds overseas, and supporting the recovery of criminal proceeds.
In addition, the Telecom Fraud Reporting Center will also be integrated.
Up to now, the Korea National Police Agency, Financial Supervisory Service, Internet Promotion Agency and other institutions have respectively accepted the declaration of telecommunication fraud, loss recovery, and slow prevention work.
The South Korean government decided to set up a comprehensive reporting response center, unifying the telephone number for telecommunications fraud victim reporting to 112, and integrating related websites into one.