"Phone Broke, Changed KakaoTalk... Beware of Messenger Phishing"

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] The scale of damage caused by 'messenger phishing,' where scammers impersonate family members or acquaintances on social media to request money transfers, has more than tripled in two years, prompting the government to issue a warning. In particular, with the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), messenger phishing, a contactless (non-face-to-face) crime, is expected to become more rampant, and the government has decided to respond strictly.

According to the Korea Communications Commission on the 24th, the amount of damage from messenger phishing from January to April this year was about 12.8 billion won, showing a sharp increase from 3.7 billion won and 8.4 billion won during the same period (January to April) in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Messenger phishing scammers ask questions to check the victim’s status by impersonating family or acquaintances, such as "Mom, what are you doing now?" or "Sister, are you busy? If not, please message me." They then create an urgent situation by saying "I urgently need money right now" for reasons like urgent remittance, repaying money borrowed from a senior, loan repayment, or depositing money on behalf of a friend, and demand a large sum of money. Recently, new tactics have emerged, such as requesting cultural gift certificate PIN numbers or inducing the installation of smartphone 'remote control apps.' For example, they deceive victims by saying, "I need to buy a cultural gift certificate, but the card payment is not working, so if you buy the cultural gift certificate and send me the PIN number, I will send you the purchase amount."

For victims unfamiliar with smartphones, scammers induce the installation of remote control apps like 'TeamViewer,' then directly control the phone or steal personal information to extort money through online payments. Targeting middle-aged and elderly people, they also request photos of credit cards and passwords, then purchase gift certificates themselves. Cases of impersonating government agencies or companies, in addition to family and acquaintances, are also continuously occurring, so caution is necessary.

The National Police Agency plans to conduct intensive crackdowns on crimes infringing on the common people’s economy, including messenger phishing, until the end of this year. The Korea Communications Commission, in cooperation with the Korea Association for ICT Promotion (KAIT) and mobile carriers, plans to send text messages warning about 'messenger phishing impersonating acquaintances' to subscribers of the three major mobile carriers early next month.

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