'Messenger Phishing' Surges 2.3 Times in One Year... Assemblyman Kang Ki-yoon Urges "Police Agency Must Actively Investigate"

Investigation Not Conducted on Personal Information Acquisition Channels

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Saeyan] Messenger phishing damage targeting the general public has significantly increased in recent years. The number of cases has increased 2.3 times in one year, and the confirmed damage amount has reached 57.64 billion KRW.

According to data obtained from the National Police Agency by Kang Ki-yoon, a member of the People Power Party representing Changwon-si Seongsan-gu, Gyeongnam, the annual number of messenger phishing cases was 2,756 in 2019 and reached 120,402 in 2020. This is an average increase of 2.3 times in one year.

Furthermore, the number of cyber financial crime cases also increased about 3.6 times in two years, from 5,621 cases in 2018 to 100,542 in 2019, and 200,248 in 2020.

Last year, the National Police Agency arrested 2,873 messenger phishing criminals. However, it was revealed that there has been no management of the acquisition routes of personal information held by the criminals, and nothing has been identified so far.

Regarding this, Representative Kang pointed out the National Police Agency's insufficient measures, stating, "To eradicate phishing crimes, it is also important to manage the distribution routes of personal information provided to phishing criminals."

He added, "Recently, due to COVID-19, phishing crimes targeting small business owners have increased, leading to more damage cases," and urged, "The responsible agency, the National Police Agency, must actively investigate and arrest offenders."

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