▲ Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency
The Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency announced today (July 27) that through proactive voice phishing prevention activities and intensive investigations this year, it has preemptively blocked 10.3 billion won in damages, apprehended 718 related suspects, and detained 56 of them.
The Gyeonggi Bukbu Police have been implementing various measures to prevent voice phishing this year, including the "Plan to Strengthen Frontline Police Voice Phishing Prevention Capabilities" and "Phishing Crime Targeted Prevention Activities."
In particular, focusing on the fact that voice phishing often begins with accessing malicious apps or websites, the police are monitoring and responding to the use of malicious apps in real time.
Voice phishing tactics confirmed in the field were sophisticated, and victims who were completely deceived found it difficult to accept the police's explanations.
Last month in Goyang, an elderly couple in their 80s, psychologically controlled by voice phishing suspects impersonating the Financial Supervisory Service and prosecutors, gathered their entire life savings of 1.5 billion won into a single account to wire the money.
The Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency's metropolitan prevention patrol team, having detected the crime, visited the victims, but the couple told the police, "There is no damage," and refused to even open the front door.
Fortunately, through police persuasion, the account containing the 1.5 billion won was placed under a payment suspension, preventing the loss.
In April, police received a report that a wife went to Chuncheon to withdraw money and was dispatched to Gapyeong Station via GPS tracking.
The victim was at Gapyeong Station trying to hand over cash to a voice phishing cash collector.
Confirming the victim's vehicle, the police urgently requested a delay in train departure times in case the associate boarded and left, and ultimately located the victim after shouting, "Looking for the owner of vehicle XXXX," inside the station.
Fortunately, a loss of 15 million won was prevented, and the cash collector was apprehended.
In May in Ilsanseo-gu, Goyang, police were dispatched to a bank following a report suspecting voice phishing.
However, the victim had already returned home.
It turned out the victim went home after receiving instructions from the criminals who said, "Police might show up after you withdraw the cashier's check, so go home and hide."
The police managed to meet the victim, who was instead angry that she needed to wire 190 million won quickly, and successfully prevented the loss through persistent persuasion.
The police explained that through these preventive activities, the number of voice phishing occurrences from January to June this year decreased by 39.8% (from 925 to 557 cases) compared to the same period last year, and the damage amount decreased by 53.9% (from 29.44 billion won to 13.56 billion won).
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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