15 Victims, Damage Amount Over 200 Million Won
A group that transferred money stolen through voice phishing to an organization was caught by the police.
According to Yonhap News Agency on the 20th, Jeju Western Police Station arrested two people in their 20s, A and B, on charges including violation of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, and booked eight others including C for investigation.
Mr. A is suspected of acting as an intermediary by recruiting nine account holders to be used for the crime and having them transfer the victim's money from July to August under the instructions of the voice phishing organization members.
Mr. B and nine others transferred the voice phishing victim funds deposited into about 50 accounts in their own names, including virtual accounts, to Mr. A’s account. Then, Mr. A sent the money again to the voice phishing organization.
The amount of money they swindled from 15 victims by impersonating the prosecution office and others reached about 240 million won.
The police received a crime report in July and identified and arrested 10 suspects through a three-month investigation including account seizures and digital forensics on mobile phones.
A police official told Yonhap News Agency, "We are operating a special voluntary surrender and reporting period for voice phishing until the 31st of next month," and urged, "Please actively report."
Meanwhile, the police warned that voice phishing is evolving by meeting artificial intelligence (AI). A few years ago, most cases were 'messenger phishing,' which deceived victims by impersonating family members via messenger and claiming urgent need for money, but recently the technology has advanced.
Currently, some overseas commercial services can make a desired sentence read aloud with just about a one-minute high-quality voice file.
In fact, this year in Hong Kong, a fraud case worth 34 billion won occurred using videos synthesized with voice. The criminals targeted the finance officer of a multinational company’s Hong Kong branch. They stole and synthesized the faces and voices of employees including the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) using AI.
In May, the National Police Agency stated in promotional materials, "Deep voice can express intonation, breathing, and silence, making it difficult to distinguish from real voices," and advised, "Be cautious when posting content with voice on SNS, and always verify suspicious requests received by phone."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
