[Asia Economy Reporter Joselgina] "I am a confirmed case, and I went to your restaurant." Recently, health authorities have identified an increase in voice phishing and smishing attempts exploiting anxiety related to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), such as impersonating confirmed cases and demanding money over the phone. The government is taking immediate action and plans to implement comprehensive countermeasures.
The Ministry of Science and ICT, Financial Services Commission, National Police Agency, and other related agencies issued a joint press release on the 17th, urging caution regarding voice phishing and smishing attempts related to COVID-19. Smishing messages disguised as COVID-19 information, such as "free mask distribution" and "delivery delays due to COVID-19," have reached a cumulative total of 9,688 cases as of the 15th.
In particular, recent cases have been confirmed where callers impersonate health authorities or confirmed cases. These include demanding or threatening money from self-employed businesses such as restaurants by pretending to be confirmed cases, or impersonating the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency or the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service to request money for quarantine or application installation. Attempts to manipulate phone numbers to impersonate COVID-19-related health and medical institutions (165 cases) have also increased recently.
Accordingly, the government plans to prevent damage to the general public and self-employed businesses caused by voice phishing and smishing in advance. To curb the spread, it will cooperate with the three major telecommunications companies to send warning messages about COVID-19-related voice phishing and smishing to all citizens and will issue immediate warnings as necessary until the situation stabilizes.
When reports of voice phishing are received, the phone numbers used will be immediately suspended, and when smishing messages are reported, the internet addresses (URLs) will be promptly blocked. Furthermore, to fundamentally prevent caller ID spoofing of health and medical institution phone numbers, the government will collaborate with health authorities to register related agency phone numbers early on a spoofing block list and continuously update it.
The government stated, "To prevent telecommunication fraud such as voice phishing and smishing, individual caution is required alongside these measures," adding, "If you receive a call demanding money or prompting you to click suspicious internet addresses (install apps), hang up and report to the National Police Agency (112) or the Financial Supervisory Service (1332). If you receive suspicious messages or suspect malware infection, report to the 118 Center (118)."
If you suspect your personal information has been stolen or your phone has been lost or stolen, you can use three services to prevent secondary damage: subscription restriction service, number spoofing message blocking service, and Kill Switch. The Kill Switch is a service equipped with remote control and remote deletion functions to prevent misuse of personal information on lost phones.
The government plans to prepare comprehensive countermeasures in cooperation with related ministries and agencies to prevent similar cases exploiting public anxiety in the future.
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