Voice Phishing Alert in Jeju: "Are You a General Affairs Department Employee?"

Jeju-do Confirms 2 Voice Phishing Cases Through Full Survey of 8,896 Public Officials

[Jeju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Chang-won] Jeju Special Self-Governing Province has issued a special warning regarding voice phishing messages that begin with “Are you an employee of the Jeju Provincial General Affairs Division?”

On the 2nd, a public official A at Jeju Provincial Office received a mobile message starting with “Are you an employee of the Jeju Provincial General Affairs Division?” confirming their employment status.

When asked about their name, acquaintances, and identity verification information, A suspected something was wrong and stopped the conversation, then reported the incident to the General Affairs Division of the province.

Jeju Province judged this as voice phishing exploiting the fear and anxiety caused by COVID-19 infection, and on the evening of the 2nd around 8:30 PM, conducted a full survey among all 8,896 public officials in the province regarding cases of receiving voice phishing messages starting with “Are you an employee of the Jeju Provincial General Affairs Division?”

As of 1 PM on October 3rd, a total of two reports had been submitted, including the case of A mentioned above.

Another informant B also received a contact via a specific mobile messenger confirming employment status, similar to A’s case.

On the same day, an anonymous post titled “What happens if a public official accidentally leaks personal information?” appeared on a local community site, claiming to have received an official document containing a large amount of personal information.

The post was deleted 10 minutes after being registered, but it was enough to raise suspicion as if a public official had leaked information.

In response, Jeju Province urged caution when receiving phone calls or text messages to prevent administrative power waste and harm to residents caused by voice phishing and fake news exploiting COVID-19 concerns and anxiety, requesting that “if there is anything even slightly suspicious, immediately report it to Jeju Province or the police.”

Jeju Province plans to cooperate with the Jeju Provincial Police Agency to promptly verify facts if illegal activities are discovered in the future and respond with a zero-tolerance policy.

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