Sharing Cases of Virtual Asset Phone Financial Fraud... National Police Agency and Interpol Issue 'Purple Notice'

Collaboration with Coast Guard Revealed Information on African Pirate Hijacking in May Last Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] As a new type of phone fraud (voice phishing) method that intercepts victim funds through virtual assets was discovered, the Korean police applied for and issued an Interpol "Purple Notice" to prevent similar crimes and protect overseas Koreans.

On the 24th, the National Police Agency announced that it had issued two Interpol Purple Notices regarding voice phishing crimes using virtual assets. The Interpol Purple Notice is one of the eight types of notices issued by Interpol, aimed at sharing various crime methods among Interpol's 195 member countries and blocking similar crimes.

The Purple Notice issued by the police concerns a case from May last year, where the perpetrator impersonated a prosecutor and deceived the victim into believing that their bank account was involved in a crime, thereby receiving and intercepting Bitcoin worth approximately 120 million KRW. Unlike traditional account transfer or face-to-face extortion methods, the crime was committed using virtual assets, which are difficult to trace. The perpetrators demanded the victim convert the funds into virtual assets under the pretext of verifying the account's illegality, representing a new type of method.

Additionally, the police, in cooperation with the Korea Coast Guard, issued a Purple Notice related to an incident in May last year where armed pirates boarded a ship near the coast of Benin, Africa, abducting five people including four Korean crew members, who were released after 62 days. The notice includes detailed crime methods such as the pirates' appearance, armament, role distribution, characteristics of the pirate base, the circumstances of the abduction, and the movement route.

Meanwhile, since 2011, Interpol has issued a total of 1,185 Purple Notices. Among these, the Korean police have applied for and issued a total of nine notices. By type, there are three for voice phishing, two each for drugs and maritime kidnapping, and one each for special theft and firearm manufacturing.

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