"Beware of Fraudulent Texts Pretending to Offer Emergency Disaster Relief Funds" Personal Information at Risk

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] AhnLab has reported the discovery of smishing (mobile phone hacking via text messages) cases impersonating government and local government emergency disaster relief fund support projects to steal personal information, urging users to be cautious.

According to AhnLab on the 16th, attackers send text messages impersonating emergency disaster relief fund-related content, and when users click on the link (URL) in the smishing message, a phishing site disguised as mobile phone identity verification appears.

When users enter personal information on the phishing page and press the 'Request Verification Code' button, the entered information is sent to the attacker.

The phishing site closely resembles the actual mobile phone identity verification screen and performs functions similar to the normal verification process, making it difficult for users to recognize it as a phishing site. The stolen personal information can be exploited in various ways according to the attacker's intent, such as voice phishing or attempts to steal financial information, so extra caution is required.

AhnLab advised following security guidelines such as not clicking on URLs or attachments in text messages from unknown sources, checking for abnormalities on pages when entering personal information online, and installing antivirus software like V3 Mobile Security on smartphones.

Park Tae-hwan, head of AhnLab's ASEC Response Team, said, "Smishing attacks exploiting social issues will continue to appear," and added, "Users should refrain from accessing URLs of unknown origin in text messages."

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