After the government implemented comprehensive voice phishing measures, the number of cases and the amount of losses declined for 10 straight months. An emergency blocking system that cuts off scam phone numbers within 10 minutes, AI-based sharing of suspicious information and intensive investigations are seen as having had an effect.

The government held a meeting of the pan-government task force on voice phishing at the Government Complex Seoul on Tuesday, chaired by Lim Ki-geun (임기근), head of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, and reviewed the results of the comprehensive plan announced in August last year to eradicate voice phishing.

Voice phishing cases fall 39.9 percent, losses down 43.2 percent

Voice phishing cases and losses fell year on year for 10 straight months from October last year to July this year. Over the period, cases dropped 39.9 percent to 12,554 from 20,900. Losses fell 43.2 percent to 632.4 billion won from 1.11 trillion won.

The government said it assessed that shifting the system from post-incident responses to preventive and pre-emptive measures and strengthening cooperation among telecommunications, financial and investigative authorities affected the decline in crime.

The National Police Agency expanded and reorganised the Integrated Reporting and Response Center for telecommunications-based financial fraud into the Integrated Response Unit for telecommunications-based financial fraud in October last year. Reporting, which had previously been possible only on weekday daytime hours, is now available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The response rate also rose to about 98 percent from about 60 percent.

Since November last year, the government has worked with the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), the country's three mobile carriers and Samsung Electronics to operate an emergency blocking system that suspends inbound and outbound calls for 7 days on phone numbers used in voice phishing. It had previously taken an average of 2 to 3 days to suspend use of scam numbers, but that has been cut to within 10 minutes since the system was introduced. Since the programme began, 115,088 numbers have been blocked.

Investigative results also improved. The National Police Agency arrested 38,577 suspects in phishing crimes through July this year, up 18.4 percent from a year earlier. It also caught 16,917 people who created or supplied tools used in such crimes, including accounts opened under borrowed names and phones registered under borrowed names.

International cooperation targeting overseas groups also produced results. Through a Cambodia-based "Korea task unit", authorities arrested 217 suspects in scam crimes and rescued 8 victims. From October last year to July this year, they arrested 405 members of overseas scam organisations and repatriated 274 of them.

AI platform blocks 66.36 billion won in losses in advance

The government strengthened technical responses to detect voice phishing in advance. The Ministry of Science and ICT blocked access to internet addresses in malicious text messages and built a system to block texts sent from invalid numbers. It also worked with Google to apply security functions that automatically block installation of malicious apps on all Android phones. Since December last year, Samsung devices and the phone apps of the three mobile carriers have provided by default a function that detects and warns in real time of calls suspected to be voice phishing.

The Financial Services Commission built an AI platform that shares voice phishing suspicious information among financial, telecommunications and investigative authorities. From its launch in October last year through the end of July this year, it shared 463,000 cases of suspicious information. It blocked in advance an estimated 66.36 billion won in stolen funds.

The government is expanding responses to new forms of scam crimes, including investment "leading chat rooms", romance scams and no-show fraud. From June 30 to Aug. 21, the number of cases reported as new scams in which financial companies took temporary measures was 6,914. Of these, 5,018 were subject to transaction suspensions. The National Police Agency blocked about 53,000 SNS accounts used for crimes this year and sent about 51,000 risk alert messages to people at risk of victimisation.

Response foundation reinforced through system improvements

The government analysed blind spots that had been difficult to address because of legal limits and revised related laws and regulations. The Korea Communications Commission revised the Information and Communications Network Act to stipulate the imposition of penalty surcharges of up to 6 percent of related sales on illegal spam-related parties and the confiscation and forfeiture of related criminal proceeds. The Ministry of Science and ICT revised the Telecommunications Business Act to strengthen responsibilities and penalties for violations by telecom operators and mobile carriers, and to block caller ID spoofing at the source.

The Financial Services Commission will impose on virtual asset exchanges obligations to prevent voice phishing and provide victim relief at the same level as financial companies. It is also pushing to expand the scope of victim assets from money to virtual assets. The Personal Information Protection Commission revised the Personal Information Protection Act to allow active use of AI technology to prevent phishing crimes.

The Justice Ministry amended the criminal law to allow sentences of up to 30 years in prison even for fraud crimes involving less than 500 million won in losses if there are many victims. It revised the Act on Special Cases Concerning Confiscation and Return of Property Acquired through Corrupt Practices to require the state to confiscate and forfeit criminal proceeds and return them to victims when victims themselves have severe difficulty in recovering losses. It also revised the Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment to allow confiscation and forfeiture of the proceeds of voice phishing crimes themselves.

Lim said the results achieved through the voice phishing task force over the past year were an exemplary case of inter-ministerial cooperation and proactive administration. He called voice phishing responses an important task to protect people's lives and urged officials to work harder with a strong sense of responsibility.