Last Year's Voice Phishing Refunds Total 25.6 Billion Won... 64% Decrease Compared to 4 Years Ago

"Need to Improve Damage Relief Application Procedures"
Non-face-to-face Fraud, Coin Scams Not Even Classified as Voice Phishing

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Last year, the amount refunded for voice phishing damages was 25.6 billion KRW, which is more than 45 billion KRW less compared to 2018. There are calls for improving the damage relief application process.

According to data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to Rep. Hwang Unha of the Democratic Party of Korea on the 15th, the amount refunded for voice phishing damages under the "Telecommunication Fraud Damage Relief Act" received by commercial banks (including internet-only banks, excluding mutual finance) from 2018 to 2022 decreased from 70.9 billion KRW in 2018 to 25.6 billion KRW in 2022.

The Telecommunication Fraud Damage Relief Act stipulates that when a voice phishing victim applies for damage relief, the amount of voice phishing damage that has been frozen after the debt extinguishment process must be refunded. However, there are many cases where the fraudsters withdraw money or transfer it to other accounts before the victim recognizes the damage and applies for relief, resulting in no compensation. Therefore, there is a need to improve the damage relief application process.

Meanwhile, financial companies have an obligation to delay or temporarily suspend account transfers or remittances if a user's account is suspected to be involved in suspicious transactions through their own inspections. The amount detected as suspicious transactions by the five major commercial banks last year was 200.7 billion KRW at Hana Bank, 16.9 billion KRW at NH Nonghyup Bank, 15.7 billion KRW at Woori Bank, 13.4 billion KRW at KB Kookmin Bank, and 3.2 billion KRW at Shinhan Bank.

Rep. Hwang stated, "Banks need to actively detect abnormal transactions to protect financial consumers," adding, "Non-face-to-face fraud or goods payment scams are not included in this, and new types of voice phishing such as inducement to coin transactions are not classified as voice phishing under current law, so the damage is expected to be significant. Therefore, the scope of voice phishing relief should be expanded through related legal amendments."

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