The popularization of smartphones has brought significant changes to the lives of modern people. Convenience in daily life has increased, and access to vast amounts of information has become easier. In other words, everything has become possible just by having a smartphone. As a result, many people find it hard to remember how they lived before smartphones existed.
On the other hand, there are also considerable side effects brought by smartphones. In addition to physical problems caused by frequent smartphone use, new types of crimes that did not exist before are on the rise. A representative example is ‘Mom-Cam Phishing’ (Mom-Cam Phishing). It is a digital sex crime that combines phone hacking and video distribution threats, where perpetrators obtain videos showing the victim’s nudity or partial body through video chatting and then demand money.
According to actual related data, ‘Mom-Cam Phishing’ crimes increased about 18 times over four years from 2015 to 2019. Moreover, during the first wave of COVID-19 from March to May 2020, the number of searches for ‘Mom-Cam’ related keywords on SNS and YouTube steadily increased, with 5,144 in March, 6,721 in April, and 8,993 in May, indicating that damages caused by Mom-Cam Phishing crimes are expected to continue rising.
Especially since the 2000s, the involvement of organized crime groups has led to the gradual sophistication and development of these crimes, producing many victims. Sexual crime perpetrators induce victims to install hacking files such as APK files during video chatting, secure their contact information, and then threaten to distribute the recorded ‘Mom-Cam’ videos to acquaintances while demanding money.
Most victims who suffer such damage tend to try to resolve the issue alone rather than report it or seek help from others due to fear of video distribution or shame. However, ‘Mom-Cam Phishing’ crimes involve extortionists with exceptional technical skills who operate systematically, making it difficult for individuals to respond effectively on their own.
IT experts advise that if you become a victim of Mom-Cam Phishing, the best way to prevent video distribution and financial loss is to immediately report to the police and seek a professional security company. LavaWave (CEO Kim Jun-yeop), a digital sex crime response specialist company, provides effective countermeasures to victims of Mom-Cam Phishing by closely analyzing victim types based on big data.
LavaWave’s core technology, LAVAR CS, completed after years of development, includes a precision analysis system and variable response solutions, and can preemptively block recorded videos from being distributed to contacts or posted on online sites. Additionally, a counseling team composed of IT security experts and counseling specialists supports victims 24 hours a day for urgent responses.
Kim Tae-won, head of LavaWave’s strategic planning team, explained, “Our company has a big data-based 1:1 customized solution that can fundamentally solve Mom-Cam Phishing damage, so we can prevent harm by changing the target or pre-blocking the means of mediation.”
Meanwhile, LavaWave, established in 2015 as a digital sex crime response specialist company, provides services that preemptively block recorded videos from being distributed to contacts or posted on online sites using big data and its proprietary solutions developed over many years. In the future, based on current IT security technology, the company plans to expand its business area from digital sex crime response services to the development and distribution of cybersecurity solutions.
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