"My Wife Is Suspicious"... Husband Who Reported Prevented Voice Phishing Damage

Crisis Averted Thanks to Quick Response by Husband and Police

An elderly woman in her 80s was about to withdraw and hand over a large sum of money after being deceived by a voice phishing call claiming "my daughter has been kidnapped," but the quick response of her husband and the police prevented the damage.

An woman in her 80s was about to hand over a large sum of money after being deceived by a voice phishing call claiming "my daughter has been kidnapped," but her husband noticed something suspicious and immediately reported it to 112. Thanks to the quick response of the husband and the police, the damage was prevented. [Image source=Captured from Daejeon Police Agency YouTube]

On the 13th, the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency reported that at around 10:20 a.m. on the 1st, a 112 emergency call was received from an apartment in Gwanjeo-dong, Seo-gu, Daejeon, stating, "An elderly woman was a victim of voice phishing and went to the credit union to withdraw 30 million won." The caller was the husband of the woman in her 80s, Ms. A, who felt something suspicious while seeing his wife off as she went out and reported it to the police. At that time, the elevator's closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage showed Ms. A, with white hair and holding a cane, entering the elevator, followed by her husband, Mr. B. Then, Ms. A got off the elevator while being seen off by Mr. B.

The police officers who responded to the report tried to contact Ms. A, but were unable to connect because the voice phishing criminals kept trying to maintain the call. Officers from the Gubong Police Substation of the Seo-gu Police Station, who were conducting special crime prevention activities for the Lunar New Year holiday in the jurisdiction, understood the report and searched the expected route, inquired at financial institutions, and checked CCTV to track Ms. A. The police divided the area from the apartment entrance to the bank and searched, eventually finding Ms. A still on the phone. The 30 million won withdrawn was money saved for hospital bills, and fortunately, Ms. A had not yet handed the money over to the phishing criminals. After about 10 minutes of persuasion by the police, Ms. A realized that the person on the phone was a phishing criminal, and the police safely handed her over to her family.

At the time, Ms. A had fallen for the scam claiming, "Your daughter has been kidnapped due to a debt issue, so deposit 30 million won as ransom," and she reportedly firmly believed the phone call content to the extent that she refused the police's advice to hang up. The suspect in this case was waiting for the victim at the scene but fled after confirming the police had arrived. Lieutenant Kim Gyu-jung of the Gubong Police Substation, who responded to the scene, said, "Requests for money impersonating family members are 100% voice phishing, so please be cautious," and added, "We will work hard to respond to crimes that threaten the daily lives of citizens."

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