Lunar New Year Holiday Voice Phishing Alert... "Never Click Suspicious Messages"

Parcel Delivery, Holiday Greetings, and Other Impersonations

With the Lunar New Year approaching, voice phishing scams impersonating parcel deliveries or holiday greetings from acquaintances are expected to increase, requiring special caution.

According to the National Police Agency on the 10th, the number of voice phishing incidents and the scale of damages over the past five years were recorded as 37,667 cases and 639.8 billion KRW in 2019, 31,681 cases and 700 billion KRW in 2020, 30,982 cases and 774.4 billion KRW in 2021, 21,832 cases and 543.8 billion KRW in 2022, and 18,902 cases and 447.2 billion KRW in 2023.

The recent prevalent voice phishing method involves sending a large volume of bait messages to induce installation of malicious applications (apps). Once the app is installed, all files such as messages, contacts, and photos are extracted. Using the obtained information, voice phishing criminals impersonate employees of the police, prosecution, Financial Supervisory Service, and send messages even to acquaintances other than the victim.

To prevent holiday voice phishing damage, never click on internet addresses (URLs) contained in messages. Also, if someone impersonating family or acquaintances requests money transfers, gift card purchases, or financial transaction information, under no circumstances should you comply with such demands.

The National Police Agency has been operating an Integrated Reporting and Response Center for Telecommunication Financial Fraud since September last year. By simply calling 112 to report, not only is the case registered, but follow-up damage relief procedures such as blocking malicious apps and suspending payments are automatically carried out. Until now, crime reports were handled by the National Police Agency, payment suspensions by the Financial Supervisory Service, and app blocking by the Korea Internet & Security Agency, making prompt action difficult.

A National Police Agency official said, “The goal of the Integrated Reporting and Response Center is to enable voice phishing crimes to be handled at once through 112,” adding, “Starting this year, we plan to create an integrated platform for information sharing and analysis. The system will be advanced over four years, and we plan to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) big data.”

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