Refused to Open Door for Police... Elderly Couple Saved Their Life Savings of 1.5 Billion Won

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 carrying out various initiatives to prevent voice phishing this year, including the "Field Police Voice Phishing Prevention Capacity Strengthening Plan" and "Targeted Phishing Crime Prevention Activities."

Notably, focusing on the fact that voice phishing often begins with accessing malicious apps or sites, the police are monitoring and taking action against malicious app usage in real time.

The voice phishing methods identified in the field were elaborate, 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.

Upon recognizing the crime, the wide-area prevention patrol team of the Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency visited the victims, but they refused to even open the front door, telling the police, "There is no damage."

Fortunately, thanks to the police's persuasion, the 1.5 billion won account was subjected to a payment suspension measure, preventing the financial loss.

In April, police officers who received a report stating, "My wife went to Chuncheon to withdraw money," were dispatched to Gapyeong Station via GPS tracking.

The victim was in the process of meeting a voice phishing cash collector at Gapyeong Station to hand over the money.

Spotting the victim's vehicle, the police urgently requested a delay in train departure times in preparation for the possibility that the accomplices might board and leave the train, and ultimately located the victim after calling out inside the station, "Looking for the owner of XXXX vehicle."

Fortunately, 15 million won in damage was prevented, and the cash collector was apprehended.

In May in Ilsanseo-gu, Goyang, the police were dispatched to a bank after receiving a report suspecting voice phishing crimes.

However, the victim had already left for home.

It turned out that the victim had returned home following instructions from the criminals who said, "The police might come after you withdraw the checks, so go home and hide."

The police managed to meet the victim—who was instead angry, insisting that 190 million won needed to be wired quickly—and successfully prevented the damage through persistent persuasion.

The police explained that through these prevention activities, the number of voice phishing cases from January to June this year decreased by 39.8% compared to the same period last year (from 925 to 557 cases), and the total damage amount dropped by 53.9% (from 29.44 billion won to 13.56 billion won).

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.