The Gyeonggi-do Fire and Disaster Headquarters has issued a warning, urging the public to exercise particular caution as incidents of fraud involving impersonation of fire agencies to make proxy purchases of goods have been occurring frequently.
According to the provincial Fire and Disaster Headquarters on April 29, on April 23 in Goyang, a scammer impersonating the "Gyeonggi Northern Fire Headquarters" called several restaurants, claiming to want to order "special meals for the training of new paramedics." The scammer then sent fake identification and a forged official document titled "Goods Payment Guarantee" to the restaurants via text message. However, the restaurant owner became suspicious of the order and was able to prevent any loss by directly confirming the facts with the Gyeonggi Northern Fire Headquarters.
Earlier, on April 21, a business impersonating the "Ulsan Fire Headquarters" requested the purchase of ladders from a hardware store in Ulsan, along with a proxy purchase of emergency medical kits, sending forged official documents. The business sent a document titled "Goods Payment Guarantee" to the hardware store and attempted to induce card payment, but no damage occurred thanks to the prompt response of the hardware store staff.
An official from the provincial Fire and Disaster Headquarters stated, "We do not request proxy purchases of goods from private businesses, nor do we instruct payments via text message." The official urged, "If you receive a suspicious purchase request, be sure to verify with the relevant agency and report it to the nearest fire station, the Gyeonggi Fire and Disaster Headquarters, or the police station."
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