[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Dooyul] A security guard’s intuition stopped a messenger phishing scam impersonating a family member after noticing a citizen anxiously fiddling with their phone at a bank.
According to the Haeundae Police Station in Busan on the 27th, at 11:46 a.m. on the 26th, security guard Park Joohyun noticed a woman in her 60s, customer A, who had been staring at her phone for quite some time in the customer waiting area of a bank in Bansong-dong, Haeundae-gu.
Feeling something was off, Park approached Ms. A and asked, “Is there anything I can help you with?” while requesting to see her phone.
Park saw that Ms. A had received a text message from a phishing scammer impersonating her daughter. The message said, “My phone screen is broken and being repaired,” and requested, “You need to install an application and provide your ID to purchase gift certificates.”
Park immediately sensed it was a phishing scam and reported it to the police.
The responding officers transferred the remaining balance in the bank account to another bank and took preventive measures such as deleting the text messages to avoid further damage.
It is reported that Park has received four commendations so far for preventing phishing crimes including voice phishing.
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