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The number of phone scams or voice-phishing incidents in South Korea that had dwindled in the last three years has soared more than 43 percent this year from a year earlier, prompting the government to take action.
The Financial Services Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the National Police Agency, and three other related government bodies on Tuesday unveiled measures to crack down on telecommunication fraud or phone scams after data showed the number of voice phishing incidents soared 43.6 percent in the January-October period this year from a year ago.
Last year, a total 38,293 voice phishing incidents were reported, resulting to 181.6 billion won ($160.8 million) in damages. This year, damage increased 83.9 percent to 334 billion won.
Phone scams were very common using messengers such as Kakao Talk. A total 14.4 billion won in damages was reported as of October, this year, via messenger phishing, most than tripling from last year’s 3.9 billion won in damages.
Messenger phishing has been easy way to hoax victims to transfer money without calling and checking identification. Scammers hack into accounts to steal names and profiles of victims and usually go after relatively small amount of less than 3 million won.
The government will demand stricter action from financial institutions and wireless carriers so that it becomes more difficult to open fake bank accounts and fabricate phone numbers. It also plans to confiscate property of scammers if the amount of damage has been taken out from their accounts.
The police will also carry out special crackdowns on voice phishing and the foreign ministry will restrict passport issuance and usage of voice phishing scammers and suspects. Applying restrictions would no longer allow scammers to have valid passports, and those foreigners that committed crimes in Korea will become illegal residents and be subject to international investigation.
[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]
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