Voice Phishing Targeting Mask and Hand Sanitizer Purchases... Consumer Alert 'Caution'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] Recently, there have been cases of voice phishing exploiting public anxiety caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), using urgent purchases of masks and hand sanitizers as bait, prompting a need for caution.

On the 11th, the Financial Supervisory Service announced a warning regarding voice phishing cases that have occurred by exploiting the psychology of people needing masks and disinfectants amid the spread of COVID-19.

Examining actual voice phishing cases disclosed by the Financial Supervisory Service, the scammers committed fraud through payment text messages. The fraudsters sent fake messages claiming that a payment was approved, and when victims called to inquire, they were deceived into believing their identity had been stolen or they were involved in a crime. Then, another scammer impersonated the police and called the victim, demanding a transfer of funds to a safe account under the pretext of protection, or installed malicious apps to obtain personal information and embezzle funds.

For example, a voice phishing scammer sent a text message to the victim saying, "Mr./Ms. OOO, 00,000 KRW has been approved. △△ KF94 masks are scheduled for shipment." Upon seeing this, the victim called the scammer to inquire, who then said, "▽▽mall," and explained that if the payment was not made, they would introduce an officer from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

Subsequently, a person impersonating Police Lieutenant ▲▲▲ from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency called, stating that the victim’s account appeared to be a "dapo" (proxy) account and that an asset holding inspection protection application was necessary. The victim was asked to install the TeamViewer QuickSupport (remote control app) on their smartphone and input financial information such as account number, resident registration number, address, phone number, and OTP number. Through this process, the victim provided personal information to the voice phishing scammer, who then used it to embezzle OO,000,000 KRW from the victim’s deposit account.

There were also messenger phishing cases impersonating family or friends. Scammers stole messenger IDs to impersonate acquaintances and demanded money through chat windows on platforms like KakaoTalk and NateOn, embezzling funds.

In one case, a voice phishing scammer approached the victim via KakaoTalk impersonating the victim’s older sister, saying, "Younger sibling, I can buy masks and hand sanitizers in bulk at a cheap price, but I don’t have money right now... Can you send about 900,000 KRW to the account I will tell you?" The victim was deceived and embezzled 900,000 KRW. Notably, the scammers requested amounts under 1,000,000 KRW to reduce the victim’s financial burden and induce the victim to believe it was for actual product purchase, guiding the transfer to a corporate account rather than a personal one.

The Financial Supervisory Service requested that any text messages with unclear sources regarding payment be deleted immediately upon receipt.

Additionally, if a phone call is inevitably connected, they advised to hang up immediately if asked to install malicious apps, verify the legitimacy of the company by searching the company name on internet portal sites, and confirm the facts by calling the official number.

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