Spread of Voice Phishing Texts Related to Novel Coronavirus... Financial Supervisory Service Issues Warning

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] Recently, as concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus have increased, a warning has been issued regarding voice phishing crimes exploiting this situation.

On the 31st, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) urged financial consumers to exercise special caution, anticipating the possibility of voice phishing crimes impersonating government agencies by taking advantage of the public's anxiety about the novel coronavirus.

According to the FSS, suspicious voice phishing text messages impersonating government agencies' disaster safety and quarantine text messages are being sent.

The text messages mainly contain phrases such as "Rapid spread of domestic Wuhan pneumonia / Confirm identity information of infected and contacts" followed by an internet address, or phrases like "Coronavirus infectious patients / Contact with many people at rest areas / Check contact rest areas" with a web link attached.

However, the FSS warned that clicking on the internet address in the suspicious text messages may lead to the installation of malicious apps or leakage of personal information, potentially resulting in voice phishing damage.

The FSS recommends never installing suspicious apps, and even if installed by mistake, never entering passwords. Additionally, if money has already been sent or transferred, it urges to immediately call the bank customer center, the police (182), or the Financial Supervisory Service (1332) to request account payment suspension.

The FSS stated, "We have disseminated the prevention methods against voice phishing using fake disaster safety and quarantine information text messages to all financial companies," and requested, "Financial companies should actively work to prevent damage by guiding visiting customers on prevention methods."

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