Fed-up Koreans band together to fight voice phishing scourge

Voice phishing attackers are developing more sophisticated ways to dupe victims out of cash and sensitive information. However, people are also becoming more vigilant and protecting others from scams.

Voice pishing consultants are picking up calls at a voice phising fraud reporting center in Jongno District, central Seoul, on May 13. [NEWS1]

Voice phishing attackers are developing more sophisticated ways to dupe victims out of cash and sensitive information. However, people are also becoming more vigilant and protecting others from scams.

Voice phishing, or "vishing," is a popular mobile phone scam in which the perpetrator impersonates various people, from kidnappers to government officials, to illicitly obtain money or sensitive data.

Cho Eun-kyung, a 64-year-old public worker, was using a restroom at a health center in Jungnang District, eastern Seoul, on May 14 when she overheard an unusual conversation from the adjacent stall. “You are trapped in a storage room?”

A middle-aged woman hurriedly exited the stall, looking visibly distressed.

Cho asked her about the matter, and the woman, later revealed to be a nursing teacher, hastily said her son had been “kidnapped” before rushing off.

Suspecting a vishing scam, Cho attempted to warn her, gesturing with crossed arms to indicate it was a scam and that she should hang up.

Despite her efforts, the woman clung to the phone even tighter.

Cho then sought help from the police, who arrived within five minutes.

However, even the police could not persuade the woman, who genuinely believed this could be the last time she heard from her son.

The woman finally ended the call when the police confirmed her son was safe at his part-time job.

The Seoul Jungnang police officer, right, awarded 64-year-old public worker Cho Eun-kyung, center, an award and reward on May 20 for her work in preventing voice phishing scam. [SEOUL JUNGNANG POLICE PRECINCT]

On May 20, the Seoul Jungang Police Precinct gave Cho an award and reward for her actions.

Cho said she suspected it was a scam, as incidents of “kidnapping and trafficking rarely happen in reality.”

A similar incident happened last March.

A 65-year-old veteran taxi driver grew suspicious when a passenger wearing a black mask asked to be dropped off at a desolate industrial complex while texting someone the whole ride.

Finding this suspicious, Mr. Kim, a taxi driver in Ansan, Gyeonggi, for the past three decades, offered to wait for the passenger’s return.

The passenger agreed.

When they arrived at the destination, the passenger went into a nearby convenience store with a bag.

Soon after, he returned to the taxi, but his bag was fully stuffed this time.

Suspecting that the man had withdrawn money sent from a vishing victim from the store's ATM, Kim reported him to the police as soon as the passenger exited the taxi.

The taxi driver also ensured the man paid the fare with a card to have his information, just in case.

Shortly after, the police apprehended the man at a nearby sushi restaurant and recovered cash worth 30 million won ($21,997) from the bag.

Kim criticized vishing as a social evil that can have dire consequences for victims.

“I just knew I must catch him,” Kim said.

In late April, a banker reported a woman they suspected of being a vishing victim after she attempted to withdraw 30 million won from the bank.

The report prevented the crime.

As awareness of vishing scams increases, some individuals are sharing their experiences online, trolling scammers in recorded phone calls.

In one video, when a scammer acts like a phone call recipient’s daughter, the recipient replies, “I don’t have kids.”

graph [KIM YOUNG-HEE]

Statistics Korea reported that since the first vishing scam report in 2006, there have been 278,200 vishing cases over 15 years through 2021, resulting in damages totaling 3.87 trillion won.

Although the National Police Agency reported a decrease in the number of scams last year, with 18,902 cases compared to 37,667 cases in 2019, the damages still surpass 400 billion won annually, making vishing the most costly scam in the country.

Baek Eui-hyung, chief of the National Police Agency's vishing scam department, warned that scammers force victims to take calls in isolated places to separate them from potential help and emphasized that the fight against vishing requires community vigilance.

"Given that the police cannot monitor everyone, it is crucial now more than ever to watch out for one another and our surroundings," remarked Lee Yoon-ho, a professor at the Department of Police Administration at Dongguk University.

BY SHIN HYE-YEON, LEE CHAN-KYU, WOO JI-WON [woo.jiwon@joongang.co.kr]