[2020 National Audit] Voice Phishing Increasing by 40% Annually... Damage Amounting to 2.5 Trillion Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] It has been revealed that the cumulative damage caused by voice phishing crimes over the past decade amounts to 2.5 trillion KRW. However,

the refund rate is only about 20%, while the number of crime occurrences is increasing at an annual average rate of over 40%.

According to the National Assembly audit data analyzed by Yang Gi-dae, a member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, submitted by the National Police Agency and the Financial Services Commission, the cumulative damage from voice phishing from 2011 to last year reached 2.2934 trillion KRW. Including the first half of this year, it amounted to 2.4511 trillion KRW.

On the other hand, the total refunded amount was 567.8 billion KRW, leaving an actual unrecovered damage amount of 1.7256 trillion KRW. The average refund rate over the past nine years was only 21.8%.

During the same period, the number of crimes increased sharply. The cumulative number of crimes from 2010 to 2019 was 194,894 cases, showing an annual average increase of 41.2%. Including crimes that occurred up to July this year, the total reached 213,620 cases, surpassing 200,000. The number of cases last year (37,667) was seven times higher than in 2010 (5,455), indicating that voice phishing crimes are rampant.

Representative Yang pointed out, “While the amount of damage and the number of occurrences of voice phishing crimes are increasing exponentially, refunds are at a sluggish level,” and “Voice phishing crimes are so malicious that they can destroy not only individuals but also their families. Therefore, perpetrators must be tracked down and arrested without fail, and strong eradication measures such as applying punitive damages amounting to several times the damage amount should be implemented.”

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