Over 2,000 Reports of 'Suspicious International Mail' (Comprehensive)

Reports related to suspicious mail delivered from overseas have exceeded 2,000 cases.

Suspicious international mail. Photo by Asia Economy DB

On the 24th, the National Police Agency announced that a total of 2,623 reports of receiving suspicious mail from overseas were received nationwide by 5 p.m. that day.

Starting with a report on the 20th of this month about a package delivered to a welfare facility for the disabled in Ulsan suspected of containing a gaseous poison, similar reports have continued nationwide for five consecutive days.

The police have collected and are investigating 903 of these cases. The remaining 1,720 cases were confirmed to be false reports.

Looking at the suspicious reports by region over the five days, Gyeonggi had the highest number with 787 cases, followed by Seoul with 620 cases, Incheon 135 cases, Chungnam 127 cases, Gyeongbuk 119 cases, and Jeonbuk 105 cases. Additionally, reports continued nationwide with Busan 98 cases, Daegu 96 cases, Chungbuk 89 cases, Daejeon 85 cases, Jeonnam 79 cases, Gwangju 72 cases, Gyeongnam 68 cases, Ulsan 67 cases, Gangwon 46 cases, Jeju 18 cases, and Sejong 12 cases.

The police urged that if anyone finds mail in yellow or black envelopes marked with 'CHUNGHWA POST' and the sender address 'P.O.Box 100561-003777, Taipei Taiwan,' they should not open it and immediately report it to the nearest police station or call 112.

The police believe that most of these mails were sent from China, passed through Taiwan, and then entered the country.

According to the Defense Science Research Institute’s detailed analysis of some of the mail, no chemical, biological, or radioactive hazardous materials were detected, and authorities assess the possibility of terrorism as low.

The police suspect that this is likely a 'Brushing Scam,' where unsolicited items are sent to random recipients who then impersonate the recipients to post product reviews and manipulate ratings. Accordingly, they are examining whether the sender can be charged with unauthorized collection of personal information under the Information and Communications Network Act.

A National Police Agency official stated, “We are conducting legal reviews regarding the leakage of domestic addresses,” and added, “We have requested investigative cooperation from Chinese public security through Interpol.”

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