Concerns Over Surge in 'Internet Scams' During Seol Holiday... Police Strengthen Crackdown

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, the police will actively crack down on internet scams.

The National Police Agency announced on the 12th that it will operate a "Strengthened Crackdown Period on Cybercrimes including Internet Scams" from the 13th to the 31st.

The number of internet scam cases increased by about 21%, from 112,000 cases in 2018 to 136,074 cases last year. The police explained that scam crimes disguised as sales of holiday gifts and travel products tend to increase before and after the holidays.

The main crackdown targets are ▲ scams disguised as sales of Lunar New Year-related products such as transportation tickets and holiday gifts ▲ scams disguised as sales of travel products such as rental cars and accommodation vouchers ▲ scams disguised as purchasing agency services for performance tickets ▲ cyber financial crimes such as smishing and messenger phishing disguised as holiday greetings or parcel tracking ▲ shopping mall scams using fake shopping mall sites and social network service (SNS) markets ▲ and the buying and selling of bank accounts used for internet scams and cyber financial crimes.

The police plan to designate a "responsible investigative agency" to investigate identical or similar cases occurring simultaneously nationwide, and to focus investigations on organized internet scams (such as multi-victim shopping mall scams) centered on the cyber investigation units of provincial police agencies. For sites created for scam purposes, the plan is to request the Korea Communications Standards Commission to review for "closure" or "blocking" to prevent the early spread of damage.

The National Police Agency urged people to check the seller’s phone number and account number for any history of scam reports through the "CyberCop" mobile app before making transactions, and to use "Safe Transactions (Escrow Service)" to prevent internet scam damage.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.