Korea to Strengthen Cooperation with Advanced Countries like the UK in Fraud Crime Detection

Minister Sang-min Lee Attends Global Summit on Fraud Prevention
11 Countries Including Korea Adopt 'Cross-Border Fraud Prevention Statement'

The government has decided to cooperate with 11 major countries, including the United Kingdom, to eradicate 'cross-border fraud crimes.' Cooperation is expected in apprehending fraud criminals and recovering fraud crime proceeds between countries, and international response measures will be strengthened to prevent criminals from hiding.

On the 13th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that Minister Lee Sang-min attended the 'Global Fraud Crime Prevention Summit' held in London, UK, on the 11th (local time) and adopted the 'Cross-border Fraud Crime Prevention Statement' containing such cooperation plans with major countries.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This meeting was held mainly among countries with international influence, such as the G7 (UK, USA, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan), to strengthen cooperation and collaboration to eradicate cross-border fraud crimes. The host country, the UK, specially invited South Korea and Singapore in addition to the G7 and Five Eyes (an intelligence alliance of five English-speaking countries: UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand).

Ministers from 11 major countries, including South Korea, agreed to actively cooperate in the multifaceted policy implementation process to block the means of crime causing damage from fraud crimes and protect victims of fraud crimes. In particular, the ministers focused on discussing cross-border fraud crime response measures, such as cooperation among law enforcement agencies, the roles of governments and institutions, and public-private cooperation plans. They discussed response measures based on cooperation among law enforcement agencies of each country regarding fraud crimes that have emerged as international issues, emphasizing that international cooperation has become more important in apprehending and responding to fraudsters crossing borders with more sophisticated methods exploiting advances in finance and communication technology.

Minister Lee also stated, "The status of fraud crimes in Korea exceeded 22% of all crimes in 2022 and has recently evolved into new types of cross-border and online fraud crimes," adding, "Based on existing law enforcement cooperation, we must strengthen multilateral cooperation systems including Interpol or networks among responsible agencies for preventing fraud crimes between countries to swiftly apprehend organized fraudsters and strengthen blocking of crime-utilized means to prevent future crime damage."

The participating countries adopted the 'Global Fraud Crime Prevention Summit Statement' reflecting the discussions to eradicate cross-border fraud crimes. This includes agreements on ▲partnership and capacity building ▲public empowerment ▲tracking organized fraud criminals operating transnationally.

The government expects that this meeting will accelerate the apprehension of cross-border fraud criminals and the recovery of fraud crime proceeds between countries. It is also anticipated that exchanges with major national fraud crime prevention centers such as Korea's 'Integrated Reporting and Response Center for Telecommunications Financial Fraud,' the UK's 'National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB),' Canada's 'Anti-Fraud Centre (AFC),' and Singapore's 'Anti-Scam Centre (ASC)' will expand.

Minister Lee said, "The reason South Korea was invited to the first-ever Global Fraud Crime Prevention Summit was not only due to thorough investigations of the rapidly increasing fraud crimes but also because of the government's proactive efforts to prevent damage," adding, "We will actively participate in thoroughly responding to cross-border fraud crimes to protect the daily lives of global citizens."

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