Gyeonggi Province Launches Employee Verification System to Prevent Impersonation Crimes

▲ Flowchart of Gyeonggi Provincial Government Employee Verification System

Gyeonggi Province announced on September 21 that it has established and launched the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Employee Verification System to prevent crimes involving the impersonation of public officials.

The service is available under the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Employee Verification menu within the Introduction to Gyeonggi - Organization Chart section on the official Gyeonggi Province website (gg.go.kr).

By entering the department, name, phone number, and email address listed on a business card that requires verification, users can check whether the individual actually works for the Gyeonggi Provincial Government.

If even a single piece of entered information does not match Gyeonggi Province personnel records, a message stating "This person is not a current employee of the Gyeonggi Provincial Government" appears along with a notification window advising users to "inquire through the Gyeonggi representative hotline (031-120) if impersonation is suspected."

Seo Gi-cheon, head of the General Affairs Division at Gyeonggi Province, said, "We prepared this system to prevent damages caused by falling for forged business cards and false contact information provided by impersonators," adding, "If you receive a suspicious contact, please make sure to verify through the employee verification system and the Gyeonggi representative hotline before transferring money or purchasing goods."

Fraud crimes impersonating public officials using forged business cards and official documents typically operate by accessing businesses that have previously traded with Gyeonggi Province and public institutions using publicly available contract information, and then demanding proxy purchases of goods, advance payments, or proxy payments.

Impersonation crimes targeting public officials of the Gyeonggi Provincial Government and affiliated public institutions that have occurred since March of last year have reached a total of 183 cases to date, among which 13 cases resulted in actual financial damages amounting to 351.7 million won.

(Photo provided by Gyeonggi Province, Yonhap News)

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