“When I call the bank, I connect with the voice phishing gang”…Voice phishing has become more bold

“You can borrow up to 35 million won at an interest rate of 3.2%.”
On the 2nd, Mr. A, a daily worker living in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, received a phone call from Mr. B, who pretended to be an employee of S Bank. Mr. A, who had been living a difficult life with a loan of 9 million won at an interest rate of 7% from a savings bank, proceeded with the loan immediately upon the news that he could borrow a small amount of money at a low interest rate.

Mr. A installed the S bank application file sent to Mr. B through a KakaoTalk message on his mobile phone. Mr. A said that the S Bank mobile phone app is absolutely necessary for credit rating screening. The hacked mobile phone of Mr. A was connected with other voice phishing gang members no matter where he called. When Mr. A called the S Bank’s representative number on the portal site, Mr. C, who had been deceived as the loan manager, answered the phone, and the daily party said, “If you pay back the existing loan, you can get a low-interest loan.”

Mr. A called the existing savings bank with his hacked mobile phone and informed him that he would pay off all his loans. At this point, the voice phishing party said to Mr. A, “I will send someone.” The next day, Mr. A delivered over 9 million won in cash from an acquaintance to a voice phishing collection book. Mr. A knew he had been voice phishing only after he lost contact with Mr. B, who promised a low-interest loan.

Voice phishing crimes against common people facing economic difficulties due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) are continuing. Face-to-face voice phishing crimes are increasing as it becomes difficult to open a’Cannon Bankbook’ created by stealing someone else’s name. It is a trick to trick victims by inducing the installation of similar commercial bank applications and hacking into mobile phones.

According to the Chungbuk Police Agency on the 25th, the number of telephone financial fraud cases last year was 1058, an increase of 8.4% from 976 in 2019. During the same period, the amount of damage increased 86% from 12.76 billion won to 23.7 billion won. A police official said, “The non-face-to-face voice phishing crime, in which the victim remits money to a virtual account, has changed to a method in which a collection book directly visits the victim and takes it face-to-face.” In the case of a police station in Cheongju, an average of 20 voice phishing crime reports per week are reported, and more than 90% of them approach victims and intercept money.

The face-to-face fraudulent voice phishing crime is conducted by approaching the common people with small loans of less than 10 million won and inducing a loan at lower interest rates. The damage amount is 10 million to 20 million won, and there are also victims who ripped more than 100 million won several times.

There are many types of criminal tactics that lead to the installation of similar commercial bank applications, hack a mobile phone, and then connect the phone to a fake financial institution. The collection book received from the victim is divided into several names in a specific account and remitted to the general manager. Even after being arrested by the police, they found that “the loan company recruited part-time students, so they only received 100,000 won per case and only delivered the money.”

A police official said, “After downloading a commercial bank application, the voice phishing crew can control all calls to the victim.” “Even if the victim calls the representative number known as a commercial bank, the voice phishing party is being deceived I can’t feel it,” he explained.

There is also a case where the voice phishing party, who was deceived as an employee of the Financial Supervisory Service, received money directly. Victim D, recently tricked by voice phishing, promised to proceed with a loan, and immediately received a phone call from an employee of the Financial Supervisory Service. An employee of the Fake Financial Supervisory Service said, “The progress of additional loans was discovered. If you receive an additional loan without repaying the existing loan, it is a violation of the contract, so give a loan of 10 million won to an employee of the Financial Supervisory Service.” Mr. D prepared 10 million won in cash and gave it to the voice phishing gang who came near the house.

An official from the police said, “There is an increasing number of voice phishing crimes against economically vulnerable groups or people in need of emergency power.”

Cheongju = Reporter Choi Jong-kwon [email protected]