"Catch New Year's Money Voice Phishing"... Savings Banks Take Action to Prevent Financial Crimes

24-Hour Public-Private Joint Response System for Government Lunar New Year Voice Phishing Crimes
Savings Bank Industry Also Establishes Own Security System

The government has decided to establish a 24-hour public-private joint response system to combat voice phishing crimes during the Lunar New Year holiday. A phishing crime investigation unit will be newly established within the National Investigation Headquarters, and the prosecution's joint investigation team will be reinforced to unify tracking, investigation, and arrest efforts, aiming for strong crackdowns and investigations. In line with this, the savings bank industry is also busy preventing financial crimes targeting holiday money gifts and bonuses during the festive period.

First, JT Savings Bank has strengthened security for non-face-to-face transactions by operating the voice phishing app detection solution ‘FakeFinder,’ which blocks applications with unclear sources, fake apps, and tampered apps based on artificial intelligence (AI). It helps ensure safe digital financial transactions by fundamentally blocking illegally installed apps through malicious app detection technology within smartphones. If an illegal app is detected, the service stops its execution and notifies the customer to guide deletion. It also prevents financial crime damage by detecting signs of suspicious transactions from customers. Additionally, it provides practical assistance to customers by sending text messages introducing various voice phishing cases and guidance on how to respond.

JT Chin-Ae Savings Bank has created an image to help easily understand the method of 'messenger voice phishing' and is posting it on the main page of its website.
[Photo by JT Chin-Ae Savings Bank]

JT Chin-Ae Savings Bank posts images on its homepage main screen to help customers easily understand the methods of 'messenger voice phishing.' For proactive prevention of financial accidents, a dedicated compliance monitoring field officer is stationed directly at branches to perform financial fraud prevention tasks. Through JT Chin-Ae Savings Bank’s Facebook content, detailed notices about characteristics of illegal loan solicitation calls impersonating the bank are provided to help customers avoid financial fraud damage.

Welcome Savings Bank plans to operate a dedicated counter from this year for rapid response to financial fraud and actively respond to prevention and related damages from voice phishing and other financial scams. During the Lunar New Year holiday, if a financial accident occurs due to voice phishing, assets will be protected through the Personal Unified Payment Suspension Service. This service allows customers to inquire about financial accounts opened under their name and apply for payment suspension. As open banking services have become widespread, this service aims to prevent all funds in financial accounts from being lost at once in case of financial accidents. Additionally, a telecommunication financial fraud prevention IT system has been established, and when withdrawing large cash amounts of 5 million KRW or more at branch counters, customers are warned about voice phishing risks to prevent damage.

SBI Savings Bank provides a Safe Transfer Service to prevent voice phishing. The Safe Transfer Service verifies whether the name of the remittance account holder matches the mobile phone subscriber and confirms the recipient’s transaction intention through a text authentication code. The bank has introduced an advanced Fraud Detection System (FDS) across all operations and strengthened monitoring during nighttime hours. If customers suffer or suspect financial fraud related to savings banks during the holiday period, they can report 24/7 through the Financial Fraud Reporting Night Call Center operated by the Korea Federation of Savings Banks. With the recent launch of the SB TokTok Plus Easy Mode, which is expected to see increased usage among those aged 60 and above, educational videos on preventing voice phishing and other financial fraud targeting the elderly will also be provided.

An industry official from the savings bank sector stated, "Even during the holiday period, we provide safe and diverse services such as operating a financial fraud reporting call center so that savings bank customers can enjoy convenience as usual.”

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