Jeonnam Police Do Not Demand Money from Financial and Investigation Agencies

‘Rapid Increase in Face-to-Face Fraudulent Phone Financial Scams, Residents Urged to Be Cautious... Report to Police Immediately’

Jeonnam Provincial Police Agency building exterior

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] Recently, in the Jeonnam region, there has been a sharp increase in ‘face-to-face extortion type’ telephone financial frauds, where the perpetrator meets the victim in person to receive cash, highlighting the need for residents to exercise special caution.

The Jeonnam Provincial Police Agency announced on the 28th that they have apprehended 69 face-to-face extortion offenders from the beginning of this year until August, with 17 of them being detained.

According to the Jeonnam police, the ‘face-to-face extortion type’ method occurred once in 2018 (with damages of 7 million KRW), increased to 15 cases in 2019 (damages of 661 million KRW), and surged to 63 cases (damages of 1.635 billion KRW) by August this year.

The ‘face-to-face extortion type’ telephone financial fraud typically involves deceiving victims under various pretexts such as “You need to repay existing loans to get a low-interest loan, so prepare cash,” impersonating financial institution employees to receive cash, or tricking victims by saying “Your personal information has been leaked, so your deposits are at risk; withdraw your money,” or “Your identity has been stolen and a shell account has been issued; withdraw the money,” thereby receiving cash or having it stored at the victim’s home to be stolen later.

In Mokpo, the police apprehended a suspect in June who impersonated an investigator and deceived a victim by saying “Your personal information has been leaked and deposits are being withdrawn, so store the money in a ‘microwave,’” then entered the victim’s home and stole 30 million KRW.

Subsequently, in July, the Gokseong police arrested a fraudster who impersonated a Financial Supervisory Service employee, deceiving victims by claiming that a penalty fee must be paid to convert loans to low interest rates, and extorted 150 million KRW under the pretext of penalty fees and repaying existing loans.

Also, in September, the Hampyeong police detained a telephone financial fraud suspect who impersonated an employee of a certain bank, deceiving victims by promising low-interest refinancing loans and extorting 180 million KRW under the pretext of repaying existing loans.

A Jeonnam police official stated, “Because the fraud exploits the victim’s psychology, making it hard to believe that the person they met and handed money to is a criminal, damages occur easily,” and urged, “There are no loans that require meeting in person to hand over cash, and neither investigative agencies nor financial institutions ask for money. Therefore, if you receive such calls, do not respond under any circumstances and report immediately to the police.”