Gwangyang Police Receive Voice Phishing Suspicion Report on the 9th
Officer on Duty Immediately Contacts Victim
Suspecting Crime After No Answer, Sends Multiple Text Messages
After Making Contact, Warns of Possible Phishing and Persuades Victim
Requests Cooperation with Other Police Stations and Secures Victim's Phone
Malware Discovered; Victim Expresses Gratitude to Police
The fact that the police prevented a voice phishing crime that could have resulted in damages worth hundreds of millions of won through accurate judgment has drawn public attention.
According to Gwangyang Police Station on the 11th, a 112 emergency call was received at around 6 p.m. on the 9th, stating, "My husband had a bank account under a borrowed name opened at a certain bank in Seoul, and he is now taking all his other bankbooks and heading to Seoul. He left at 3:30 p.m."
At the time, Police Lieutenant Ki Hopil, who was on duty, attempted to call the victim, identified as Mr. A, dozens of times while dispatching a patrol car, but received no answer. He instinctively sensed that it was a phishing crime.
This is because voice phishing organizations usually try to keep the victim on the phone or prevent them from receiving calls from others.
Lieutenant Ki immediately sent several text messages to Mr. A, warning of the possibility of voice phishing.
After reading the messages, Mr. A was able to speak with Lieutenant Ki. It was revealed that Mr. A had not realized he was involved in a phishing crime until he spoke with the officer.
Lieutenant Ki continued to persuade Mr. A and requested cooperation from the jurisdictional highway patrol so that they could check upon locating the vehicle.
After persistent persuasion, Mr. A agreed to stop briefly at Cheonan Service Area. Through swift cooperation, officers from the Chungnam Highway Patrol, who were dispatched to the scene, discovered malware on Mr. A's mobile phone.
Only then did Mr. A realize he had fallen victim to voice phishing. He had almost lost his entire property, amounting to 600 million won, including his retirement pay.
Mr. A sighed in relief, saying, "My personal information was leaked, a card was issued, and while talking to a public institution's contact number I found myself, I suddenly started to think I was involved as a criminal suspect. I think I lost my mind. If it weren't for the police officer, I could have lost the 600 million won, including my lifetime retirement pay. From now on, I will never click or even look at links in messages from unknown sources."
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