Pocheon City Warns of Another Fraudulent Goods Purchase Scam Involving Public Official Impersonation

Pocheon City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Baek Younghyeon) has recently urged citizens and local businesses to exercise special caution following a recurrence of fraudulent activities involving impersonation of public officials for the purpose of purchasing goods.

Pocheon City recently urged citizens and local businesses to exercise special caution as incidents of fraud involving impersonation of public officials for purchasing goods have occurred again. Photo by Pocheon City

In July, there was an attempt to induce the purchase of specific goods by delivering a forged purchase request document, purportedly from Pocheon City Hall, to a local business. This incident marks the second such case in July alone, following a similar scam in June. The methods used are becoming increasingly sophisticated, raising concerns about further potential damage.

The perpetrator used a fake official document in the name of a non-existent department and a forged city hall seal to request goods from the business, then introduced a specific supplier and pressured for payment in cash. The scam was uncovered when the business verified the request with the city hall, and as a result, no actual financial loss occurred.

This case is the same type of fraud as those reported in other local governments, involving impersonation of public institutions. The core tactics include document forgery and exploiting public trust in government agencies to demand money. There is a particular tendency to target local businesses, so heightened vigilance is necessary.

Pocheon City plans to strengthen guidance and preventive publicity activities through official social networking services (SNS) and other online channels to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.

A city official stated, "Recently, cases of fraud impersonating public institutions have been rapidly increasing nationwide," and urged, "If you receive any contact requesting goods delivery or contracts, please make sure to verify the facts with the relevant agency or department."

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