"Spam for Gambling and Illegal Loans Targets Men in Their 50s"

Public-Private Collaboration for Illegal Spam Analysis
Announcement of Pseudonymized Data Integration Pilot Case Results

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] Big data analysis results revealed that gambling, illegal loans, and adult content spam mainly target men in their 50s.

The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) and related ministries jointly promoted seven projects in five major areas starting last November, and the third combined outcome was announced by the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) on the 24th.

This case was promoted to study the actual condition of illegal spam by gender and age group by combining KISA spam report information and SK Telecom customer information through the specialized integration institution Samsung SDS. It is the first case in the telecommunications field to combine 13.77 million spam reports made by SK Telecom customers in 2020 with gender and age information through big data pseudonymization.

As a result of the analysis, the spam report ratio by gender was 64.4% male and 35.6% female, with men about 1.8 times higher than women. By age group, the highest rates were in the 50s at 28.6%, followed by the 60s at 22.8%, and the 40s at 22.7%.

Regarding the type of reception, text spam was higher than voice spam across most genders and age groups, but for females under 20, in their 20s, and in their 40s, the voice spam ratio was slightly higher.

Among spam types, gambling spam accounted for the highest proportion, followed by illegal loans. Men had relatively higher proportions of stock information spam compared to women, while women had relatively higher proportions of loan and card (such as credit card companies) spam compared to men.

When analyzed by spam type and age group, gambling, illegal loan, and adult content spam types had the highest proportion in the 50s for both men and women. Financial-related spam types also mainly had a high proportion in the 50s, but stock information spam was highest among men in their 40s. Pharmaceutical spam types showed a higher proportion among men in their 60s.

The top six spam number prefixes accounted for about 87.5% of all spam. Men had a relatively higher proportion of mobile numbers (010), while women had a relatively higher proportion of landline numbers (such as 02, 031). International call number types (00700, 006, etc.) accounted for 10.7%.

The Korea Communications Commission and KISA will promote age-specific customized spam prevention education and awareness campaigns based on the analysis results of this combined pilot case. They also plan to expand pseudonymized information integration.

Han Sang-hyuk, Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, said, “Based on this combined pilot case, we will cooperate with KISA to establish policies against illegal spam such as gambling and illegal loans and to enhance customized user spam prevention awareness.”

Yoon Jong-in, Chairman of the PIPC, stated, “This combination is the first case where public institution data and corporate data were combined with the participation of a private sector specialized integration institution. We will actively strive to create an environment where data can be safely utilized so that corporate participation and private sector data integration, essential for digital economic transformation, can be further activated.”

Lee Won-tae, Director of KISA, said, “We expect that cases of pseudonymized information integration and utilization that the public can feel will spread further. The Korea Internet & Security Agency will do its best to establish a safe utilization foundation for personal information as part of the government’s ongoing Digital New Deal policy.”

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