Decrease Trend Since 2019, Sharp Increase This Year
Damage Amount for 60+ Age Group 5.3 Billion Won... Accounts for Half of Total
There has been a sharp increase this year in voice phishing (telephone financial fraud) scams impersonating the post office, which lure victims into phone conversations by claiming that registered mail sent to them has been returned and is being held.
According to data submitted by the Korea Post to Min Hyung-bae, a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the cumulative number of post office voice phishing cases from January to July this year reached 431, with damages amounting to 11.128 billion KRW.
This amount is more than 1.5 times higher than the total damages from post office voice phishing incidents that occurred throughout 2022.
Looking at the trend of post office voice phishing damages over the past five years, the amount recorded 25.4 billion KRW in 2019 and gradually decreased each year to 7.024 billion KRW last year, but has shown an increase again this year.
By age group, nearly half of the damages occurred among those aged 60 and above. From January to July this year, the number of voice phishing cases experienced by people aged 60 and over totaled 151, with damages amounting to 5.357 billion KRW (48.1%). The damage amount for those in their 50s was also significant at 2.833 billion KRW (25.5%).
Assemblyman Min pointed out that despite this situation, there are only seven full-time staff dedicated to handling post office voice phishing damage relief. He added, "There is no safe zone from increasingly sophisticated and intelligent voice phishing," and emphasized, "We must make every effort to protect citizens' assets through the introduction of age-specific tailored policies such as preventing damage to the elderly, strengthening security in non-face-to-face channels, and improving related systems."
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