[Exclusive] Increase in 'Contactless Cybercrime' Due to COVID-19... "This Year, Virtual Currency and Ransomware Threats Rise"

National Police Agency '2020 Cybercrime Trend Analysis Report'
Record High 230,000 Cases Last Year
75% Are Cyberfraud

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] This year, the police identified 'virtual currency crimes' such as fraudulent fundraising and hacking, as well as increasingly sophisticated 'ransomware,' as the main threats to domestic cybersecurity. With the continued spread of COVID-19, crimes such as non-face-to-face cyber fraud are also expected to increase.

According to the '2020 Cybercrime Trend Analysis Report' published on the 14th by the Cyber Investigation Bureau of the National Police Agency, the police selected ▲cybercrimes related to virtual currency ▲the spread of increasingly sophisticated and complex ransomware ▲an increase in cybercrimes related to the spread of non-face-to-face culture as this year's cyber threat factors.

First, the police forecast that hacking targeting major virtual currency exchanges, smishing and investment fraud impersonating exchanges will increase as the virtual currency market overheats. In fact, illegal activities related to virtual currency surged from 62 cases (damage amounting to 169.3 billion KRW) in 2018, to 103 cases (763.8 billion KRW) in 2019, and 333 cases (213.6 billion KRW) last year. In response to the rampant related crimes, the police launched a focused crackdown from March this year, arresting 62 cases and 187 people as of the 1st of this month. Notably, due to large-scale fraudulent fundraising incidents such as 'V Global' this year, the damage amount reached 4.1615 trillion KRW from January to May.

The police included not only the ongoing fraudulent fundraising investment scams but also smishing impersonating exchanges and unregistered exchange operations among the types of virtual currency-related crimes expected to be prevalent this year. Specifically, smishing involves sending false messages claiming that an exchange account has been logged in from overseas and requires action, then stealing personal information. Unregistered exchanges are a new type of fraud where the system is manipulated to appear as if actual trading is taking place, deceiving victims and embezzling transaction funds. The police explained, "Extra caution is necessary regarding virtual currency-related fraud crimes targeting individuals."

The report also predicted an increase in ransomware, which hijacks computers of individuals and companies to demand ransom. Ransomware is malicious software that encrypts all files on a computer and demands virtual currency as payment to decrypt them. The police expect the spread of more sophisticated ransomware that, beyond the traditional method, threatens to leak stolen information if the demanded payment is not made, causing 'secondary damage.' Since data infected by ransomware is difficult to recover, it is essential to regularly back up personal data and work files and to practice security and prevention measures as part of daily life.

Meanwhile, due to the spread of COVID-19, a record high of 234,098 cybercrimes occurred last year. Among these, 74.5% (174,328 cases) were cyber fraud exploiting non-face-to-face interactions, followed by cyber financial crimes such as phishing with 20,248 cases (8.6%), cyber defamation and insults with 19,388 cases (8.3%), cyber gambling with 5,692 cases (2.4%), and cyber sexual violence with 4,831 cases (2.1%). The police anticipate that cybercrimes will continue to be rampant this year as well.