1,500 Cases of Mass Fraud and 85.6 Billion Won in Damages in Gwangju Over the Past Year

Voice Phishing Losses Reach 39.6 Billion Won
Numerous Cases Involving Investment Group Chats and Romance Scams

The total amount of damages caused by mass victimization fraud in Gwangju over the past year has reached 85.6 billion won.

Gwangju Police Agency.

According to the Gwangju Police Agency on August 8, there were a total of 1,501 cases of mass victimization fraud in the Gwangju area from March last year to July this year, with the damages amounting to 85.6 billion won. Mass victimization fraud refers to crimes that use telecommunications and other means to deceive an unspecified large number of people, resulting in property loss.

By type, voice phishing accounted for the largest number of cases at 744 (39.6 billion won), followed by investment group chat fraud with 396 cases (36.5 billion won), no-show scams with 190 cases (3 billion won), romance scams with 75 cases (5.2 billion won), and smishing with 96 cases (1.3 billion won).

These types of fraud are particularly difficult to counter because they utilize non-face-to-face methods such as burner phones and fake bank accounts, and are based online, making them transnational crimes.

In addition to mass victimization fraud, there were also 1,414 cases of the so-called "top 10 malicious frauds" (such as jeonse fraud and insurance fraud) during the same period, with 1,158 suspects apprehended and 54 detained.