"Mother-in-law, please urgently transfer money"... Family impersonation 'Messenger Phishing' on the rise

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyo-jin] "Mother-in-law, I urgently need to send money somewhere. Could you please send it first? It's 600,000 won." "Mom, have you ever signed up for TiO or WiOO? If you can't sign up, please take a photo of your resident registration card and send it to me."

Messenger phishing, where scammers impersonate family members or acquaintances to request money transfers or personal information via mobile messengers, is on the rise.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 3rd, messenger phishing cases recorded from the beginning of this year to September totaled 6,799 cases and 29.7 billion won, representing increases of 14.6% and 25.3%, respectively, compared to the same period last year.

KakaoTalk remains the most commonly used platform for voice phishing, but recently, cases involving text messages (SMS) have also significantly increased, the Financial Supervisory Service explained.

Among all messenger phishing cases, those involving KakaoTalk accounted for 81.7% in 2018, 90.2% last year, and 85.6% up to September this year.

The Financial Supervisory Service urges that if family members or acquaintances request money or personal (credit) information via text or messenger, you must verify by phone call whether they are truly family or acquaintances.

They also explained, "If they say it is difficult to contact due to reasons such as a broken or lost phone, voice phishing is suspected, so you should be even more cautious and stop messaging."

Additionally, since scammers may impersonate children or acquaintances to induce the installation of malicious apps such as remote control applications, you should absolutely refuse any requests to install apps from unknown sources.

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