Last Year, Over 4.1 Billion Spam Text Messages Were Sent
"Attention to individual investors stuck in stocks.", "We will teach you the secret to making big money with a small amount."
Recently, many people have posted screenshots online claiming that spam messages have surged. It has been revealed that this complaint is not just a feeling. In fact, the volume of spam messages sent has increased.
On the 13th, Yonhap News reported, citing the Korea Communications Commission, Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), and Ministry of the Interior and Safety, that the total number of spam messages sent last year reached 4.128 billion. This is more than three times the 1.21017 billion messages sent in December 2019 over four years. The number of reports surged from 20 million in 2021 to 280 million in 2023.
Analysis of the types of domestic mass text spam showed that gambling-related spam accounted for the largest share at 43.6%. This was followed by illegal loans (23.2%), finance (15.3%), and others (17.9%).
Han Minsu, a member of the National Assembly’s Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, pointed out on the 8th, based on data obtained from the Central Radio Management Office, that "illegal text resellers are proliferating due to loopholes in lax registration requirements and procedures."
Even without financial damage, citizens expressed fatigue over spam messages ringing multiple times a day. Ahn (48), who has an elementary school son, told Yonhap News, "I told my child not to look at messages from unknown numbers, but I worry that curiosity might lead to clicking and personal information leakage or a huge phone bill."
One analysis suggested that the surge in illegal spam messages was due to some text resellers who provide mass text transmission services being hacked, resulting in a massive leak of personal contact information they held.
The Board of Audit and Inspection is reviewing whether regulatory authorities such as the Ministry of Science and ICT and KISA have properly managed and supervised text resellers to block spam. In particular, when calling numbers from which spam was sent, the calls often reach nonexistent numbers, raising concerns that the Ministry of Science and ICT neglected its responsibility to regulate the act of sending messages with falsified (spoofed) phone numbers.
Additionally, since telecommunications companies and intermediary operators, who are upper-tier businesses of text resellers, profited from mass text sending, the authorities are also auditing whether they showed a lax attitude toward regulation.
Management authorities such as the Ministry of Science and ICT collaborate with police and telecom companies to filter spam, romance scams, and other messages, but it is practically impossible to filter all messages.
Although charges such as attempted fraud under the Criminal Act and violations of the Telecommunications Business Act can be applied, it is known that arrests are not easy.
Experts emphasize that users should 'never respond' to spam messages. Professor Hwang Seokjin of Dongguk University Graduate School of International Information Security told Yonhap News, "From the start, unknown messages should not be viewed, and phone numbers or IDs should be blocked at the source. The government should discuss with companies to strengthen authentication procedures when creating accounts, and if accounts are blocked due to illegal activities, measures should be taken to prevent re-creation for 5 to 10 years."
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