Last Month's Phone Financial Fraud Losses Total 40.4 Billion Won... Surge in 'Number Spoofing' Relay Devices

Crime Victimization at 30% Level Compared to Last Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Last month, damages caused by phone financial fraud have continued to decrease to the 40 billion KRW level.

The National Police Agency’s National Investigation Headquarters announced on the 21st that in November this year, there were 1,696 cases of phone financial fraud, with damages amounting to 40.4 billion KRW, and 23,670 suspects were arrested. Compared to the same period last year, the number of cases decreased by 28.5%, the amount of damages by 28.2%, and the number of arrests by 4.3%. However, it was found that the damage still remains substantial, averaging 1.8 billion KRW per day (excluding weekends).

Considering the recent sophistication of phone financial fraud methods, the National Investigation Headquarters selected eight key tools used in the crimes and conducted special crackdowns twice this year, in the first and second halves. As a result, in the second half (August to October) alone, 46,166 crime tools were seized, along with 4,331 cases of illegal creation and distribution of various crime tools, and 4,538 distributors were arrested, of whom 201 were detained.

The eight major crime tools are burner phones, burner bank accounts, phone number spoofing relay devices, illegal currency exchange, malicious apps, illegal distribution of personal information, bait messages, and false job advertisements. Compared to the special crackdown results from the same period last year, burner phones decreased by 3% to 20,030 cases, but phone number spoofing relay devices surged by 2,624% to 5,231 cases. The number spoofing relay device is equipment that disguises overseas caller numbers as '010' numbers.

The police reported that for spoofing relay devices, there is a clear trend of replacing SIM boxes equipped with multiple USIM chips with mobile phones, and that many mobile devices are found mounted not only in fixed locations such as lodging facilities but also carried in vehicles or motorcycles, indicating that the crime methods are becoming increasingly sophisticated. On the other hand, burner phones have decreased due to strengthened procedures for prepaid phone activation and the self-regulatory efforts of the industry, as well as the effectiveness of the government-wide measures announced by the Ministry of Science and ICT on September 28, according to police analysis.

Additionally, the police stated that 18 people were arrested for illegal distribution of personal information, newly added to this year’s crackdown targets. Most were professional distributors or loan sharks, including suspects who distributed about 15,000 DB files (covering 5.6 million name holders). The police plan to analyze the background of DB creation and distribution and notify relevant agencies of necessary system improvements.

The police are cooperating with related agencies alongside strong crackdowns to prevent and stop the recurrence of phone financial fraud. They are also continuing crackdowns on overseas call centers through cooperation with foreign law enforcement agencies. As a result, damages from phone financial fraud crimes have been reduced by nearly 30% compared to the previous year, and damages recorded in September and October, when the crackdown was about to end, were in the 30 billion KRW range, marking the lowest level of crime damages this year.

A police official said, "Thorough analysis of the latest crime methods and comprehensive crackdowns have suppressed criminal organizations’ activities, ultimately leading to the prevention of public damages," and added, "Next year, we will strengthen crackdowns even more on the creation and distribution of crime tools and on domestic and international criminal organizations."

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