"Here is ㅇㅇ District Prosecutors' Office..." One Person Lost 17 Million Won to Voice Phishing

Impersonation of Prosecutors Continues... 1.5 Times Increase in Last Year's Damages

#Victim A received a text message one day stating that "the card application has been completed." Having never applied for a card, A inquired by calling the phone number provided in the message. The counselor informed A that their identity had been stolen and that an investigation was necessary. Subsequently, fraudsters impersonating prosecutors called, threatening that "A's bank account was used as an illegal money laundering mule account" and demanded cooperation for the investigation. The fraudsters pressured A to take out a loan and transfer the money to an account they specified, claiming, "We will conduct a loan simulation, and if the loan is not approved, we will deposit the funds into a government treasury account for investigation." Through this process, A suffered a loss of 130 million KRW.

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced on the 7th that the average amount lost per person to voice phishing last year was approximately 17 million KRW, a 1.5-fold increase compared to the previous year.

According to the FSS's "2023 Voice Phishing Damage Status Analysis," the total damage amount from voice phishing was 196.5 billion KRW, an increase of 51.4 billion KRW (35.4%) from the previous year (145.1 billion KRW). The average loss per person was 17.1 million KRW, up 5.8 million KRW from 11.3 million KRW the previous year.

The number of victims was 11,503, a decrease of 1,313 (10.2%) compared to the previous year (12,816), but the number of high-value victims losing over 10 million KRW increased. Those who lost more than 100 million KRW numbered 231, an increase of 95 from the previous year, and victims losing over 10 million KRW also rose by 1,053 to 4,650.

The main types of fraud by proportion were loan impersonation (35.2%), family/friend impersonation messenger phishing (33.7%), and government agency impersonation (31.1%). The FSS explained that while messenger phishing damage has significantly decreased, damage from government agency impersonation and loan impersonation has increased.

By age group, those in their 50s (56 billion KRW, 29%) and 60s and older (70.4 billion KRW, 36.4%) accounted for more than half of the total damage amount. However, losses among those in their 20s and younger and 30s increased sharply by 13.9 billion KRW and 13.5 billion KRW respectively compared to the previous year.

Most victims in their 20s and younger, who are early in their careers, fell prey to government and institution impersonation scams. Those in their 30s and 40s, who often have housing and living expenses, were vulnerable to loan impersonation scams posing as financial companies. For those in their 50s and 60s and older, family/friend impersonation messenger phishing still accounted for a large proportion.

Fraud damage from government agency impersonation increased across all age groups. The FSS explained that this was due to a surge in attempts using smishing text messages impersonating fines and penalties payments, parcel/delivery tracking, and mobile congratulatory/condolence notifications. The FSS added, "Recently, the method has evolved to use smishing messages containing URLs."

Among the accounts used in voice phishing scams, deposits made through bank accounts accounted for a high proportion of 141.8 billion KRW (72.1%). For internet-only banks, which surged in 2022, the proportion dropped significantly from 20.9% to 10%. Conversely, deposits through mutual finance cooperatives and other small-scale financial sectors increased by 21.1 billion KRW to 51.7 billion KRW compared to 30.6 billion KRW the previous year.

The FSS stated that it plans to support the establishment of a 24-hour response system in the financial sector to prevent voice phishing damage. To block bait messages impersonating government agencies and financial companies, it will collaborate with related ministries to expand the use of "Safe Mark" labeling. Additionally, it will promote technological advancement such as developing and distributing AI-based real-time voice phishing detection services.

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