"Telephone bombs are thrown every 3 seconds"



The Seoul Metropolitan Government's self-developed 'cannon killer' program to prevent damage from illegal loan advertisements. So far, a total of 21,000 loan phone numbers have been blocked, and 6,679 of them have been used. It was announced today (19th) that it was stopped.



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The 'cannon killer' is a principle that blocks calls between the supplier and the consumer by entering the phone number written on the illegal loan business flyer into the system, and the machine automatically dials every 3 seconds and keeps the call in a continuous state.



If the illegal lender receives a call from the cannon killer, a message is displayed to guide the illegal business activity, saying, 'I would like to inform you that I will request suspension of use in accordance with Article 9-6 of the Loan Business Act'.



In addition, when a vendor blocks a phone number from a cannon killer, it automatically calls back to another number, making it difficult for vendors to identify consumers.



In fact, making illegal business almost impossible is the key.



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As a result of developing and operating the nation's first cannon killer in October 2017, Seoul blocked a total of 21,000 illegal loan phone numbers.

Of these, 6,679 phone numbers have been suspended.



However, currently only the city handles the cannon killer business, so it takes up to 14 days to block the phone number if a report of an illegal loan company comes in to the autonomous district.



Accordingly, the city is considering a plan to directly operate a cannon killer in autonomous districts from the second half of the coming year to enhance the preventive effect.



Meanwhile, the number of loan companies registered in Seoul decreased from 3,164 in 2016 to 2,471 as of the end of last year.

As of the end of last year, as of the end of last year, Gangnam-gu had the highest number of registered companies with 417, followed by Seocho-gu with 315, Jung-gu with 165, and Songpa-gu with 144.



If you find an illegal loan advertisement without a loan business registration number, the city urged you to report it to the 'National Newspaper' or 'Seoul City Response Center'.



Lee Byung-wook, Fair Economy Officer in Seoul City, said, "Recently, there is a growing concern about damage to citizens due to the indiscriminate distribution of advertisements for illegal loan businesses on the streets." We will try to block it,” he said.



(Photo = provided by Seoul City, Yonhap News)