"Please Find My Daughter"…Elder from Dangjin Comes to Seoul, Visits Police Station with 5 Million Won

An Elderly Person Who Rushed Over at Once to a Voice Phishing Call

A story of an elderly person who received a voice phishing call and rushed from Chungnam to Seoul for his daughter has been shared, touching many hearts.

On the 1st, the YouTube channel 'Seoul Police' posted a video titled 'The story of an elderly person who ran all the way to Seoul for his daughter.' The video showed Mr. A, an elderly man who urgently visited the Yongjung Police Substation of Yongsan Police Station in Seoul on the 26th of last month.

[Image source=YouTube channel 'Seoul Police']

Mr. A asked the police officers for help, saying, "I need to meet my daughter, but I don't know the exact address." To calm the startled Mr. A, the police offered him a glass of water and asked for the full story. Mr. A explained, "I received a call from my daughter saying she urgently needed 27 million won because she had made a wrong guarantee." As soon as he received the tearful call from his daughter, he gathered 5 million won in cash and rushed from Dangjin, Chungnam to Seoul in a hurry.

Mr. A’s mobile phone had a malicious app installed, making it difficult to communicate with his daughter. The police officers took Mr. A’s phone and went to find his daughter. Shortly after, Mr. A’s daughter, having heard the news, visited the police substation. She hugged Mr. A tightly as soon as she saw him.

The police informed Mr. A about how to prevent voice phishing. Fortunately, Mr. A left the substation safely with his daughter, carrying the 5 million won.

[Image source=YouTube channel 'Seoul Police']

Meanwhile, according to the '2023 Voice Phishing Damage Status Analysis' released by the Financial Supervisory Service, the amount of damage caused by voice phishing surged to 196.5 billion won last year, and the damage per person also increased significantly. The types of voice phishing damage were loan impersonation (35.2%), family/friend impersonation messenger phishing (33.7%), and government/agency impersonation (31.1%) in that order.

Victims aged 60 and over (70.4 billion won, 36.4%) and those in their 50s (56 billion won, 29.0%) accounted for more than half of the total damage. However, those in their 20s and 30s recorded the largest increase in damage amount among all age groups, with 13.9 billion won and 13.5 billion won, respectively.

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