Jeju Police Agency Warns Against Voice Phishing Disguised as Low-Interest Debt Consolidation Loans

Jeju Provincial Police Agency

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters (Jeju) Reporter Hwang Jeongpil] Jeju Provincial Police Agency announced on the 20th that it analyzed the damage status and crime methods within Jeju Special Self-Governing Province this year to establish customized measures to eradicate voice phishing, a representative crime that infringes on the common people's economy.

From January to October this year, a total of 355 voice phishing cases occurred in the province, causing property damage of over 6.3 billion won. Although this is somewhat lower than last year when the crime was severe, the average damage per case increased by 19.7% to 17.6 million won, continuously making residents' lives difficult.

The crime method was dominated by loan fraud types that lure victims with low-interest loans, accounting for 88%, while impersonation of investigative agencies such as police and prosecution accounted for about 12% of total occurrences.

In particular, a representative damage type involves falsely claiming to refinance loans received from commercial financial institutions at low interest rates, then impersonating financial institution employees to pressure victims applying for refinancing loans by threatening immediate repayment due to loan contract violations or financial transaction law violations, warning of prosecution or suspension of financial transactions, thereby embezzling funds.

Regarding the method of delivering the stolen money, while the proportion of account transfers is decreasing, new methods are rapidly increasing, such as meeting criminals impersonating commercial bank or Financial Supervisory Service employees to hand over cash directly, sending gift certificate PIN numbers via SNS, or using mobile phone malware for remote-controlled transfers.

Victim characteristics are mostly active financial transaction users in their 40s and 50s, including office workers and self-employed individuals (about 70% of cases in October). Among them, those with existing financial loans are easily deceived by the bait of low-interest refinancing loans, concentrating the damage, according to the Jeju Police Agency.

The Jeju Police Agency emphasized that to prevent the enormous economic and social damage caused by voice phishing, it is important for all residents to be familiar with and prepare for the latest crime methods, and that joint efforts from not only the police but also members of society are urgently needed.

The dedicated telephone financial fraud investigation team is strengthening arrest activities by focusing investigative capabilities, having arrested and detained five cash collectors of voice phishing organizations. They distributed the recently analyzed “Voice Phishing Crime Damage Status and Prevention Guidelines” to administrative offices of each eup, myeon, and dong in the province, financial institutions, and small business associations, urging citizens' interest and caution.

Additionally, starting from last September, the Jeju police plan to actively implement victim prevention publicity activities that directly visit local communities in connection with the “Themed Walking Around the Neighborhood” campaign they are promoting.

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