Yongin City Urges Caution Against Public Official Impersonation Scams... All-Out Effort to Prevent Fraud

“Beware of Impersonators Inducing Advance Payments”
Meetings Arranged in City Hall Lobby and Forged Official Documents Used
Bolder Fraud Tactics Impersonating Public Institutions
Mayor Lee Sangil Urges Immediate Reporting of Advance Payment Requests

Yongin Special City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Lee Sangil) announced on March 17 that, in response to recent fraud cases where individuals impersonated public institution employees to obtain payments from companies or induce advance payments, the city is urging heightened vigilance and is concentrating its administrative resources on preventing such crimes.

False official document forged by a group impersonating public officials. Provided by Yongin City

Previously, on January 28, an unidentified group approached a local information and communications company, impersonating an official named 'Lee OO' (alias), allegedly working at the Suji District Office.

They sent a forged official document in the name of the Suji District Office via smartphone text message (SMS), deceiving the company by asking it to place a proxy order for ‘electric vehicle fire suffocation blankets.’ As a result, the victim company transferred approximately 100 million won to the account of a specific company (suspected to be a fake bank account) and the funds were stolen.

The victim company visited the district office the following day, confirmed that the official document was forged, and immediately filed a criminal complaint for fraud with the Yongin East Police Station.

There was another case in which someone impersonated a public official from the Accounting Division, which oversees contracts at city hall, presenting a forged official document and business card and requesting to meet in the lobby on the first floor of the main city hall building.

Additionally, an incident was confirmed where individuals impersonated library staff, called a company representative to the first floor of the library, and discussed a construction estimate in person.

Recently, the methods used in these crimes have become increasingly brazen, such as luring victims directly to public institution buildings like city hall to attempt face-to-face contact, requiring extra caution.

These perpetrators would first gain trust by impersonating public officials and arranging meetings inside public institution buildings. Afterwards, they would communicate only by phone and text, using this trust to induce advance payments for materials and other fraudulent transactions.

In response, the city has posted notices on its official website and the Yongin City Contract Information System to make every effort to prevent similar incidents.

False official document forged by a group impersonating public officials. Provided by Yongin City

Mayor Lee Sangil stated, “All purchases, services, and construction contracts by local governments and their affiliated public institutions are carried out exclusively through formal procedures in accordance with relevant laws, such as the Act on Contracts to Which a Local Government Is a Party, and through official systems like the National Electronic Procurement System (Nara Marketplace).”

Mayor Lee emphasized, “Under no circumstances will a public official request a proxy order via personal mobile phone text message (SMS), demand advance payment for materials in any private form, or ask for funds to be transferred to a specific private account. If you are presented with a forged business card or official document and are asked to meet or make a payment in locations such as the city hall or district office lobby, please do not comply. Instead, immediately check the legitimacy by calling the official administrative phone numbers of city hall or the district office.”

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