Sejong City Urges Caution Against Phone and Text Message Scams Impersonating Government Agencies

Concerns Over Voice Phishing and Smishing Crimes
"Guidelines for Prevention" Provided

Due to concerns about potential crimes such as inducing users to access alternative sites or reinstall apps via phone calls or text messages during the recovery period of the computer system following the fire at the National Information Resources Service, authorities are urging the public to exercise particular caution.

According to Sejong City on September 30, there are growing concerns about attempted crimes such as phone-based financial fraud (voice phishing) and text message scams (smishing) impersonating government agencies, using system disruptions caused by the fire as a pretext.

In particular, there are worries about the following: ▲ notifications of changed Government24 addresses and inducements to access them due to the fire ▲ requests to apply for delayed tax payments due to service disruptions ▲ applications for compensation for daily life damages caused by disruptions to civil service systems ▲ and attempts to confirm additional compensation recipients due to delays in the distribution of the second round of livelihood recovery consumer coupons. These actions can be used to steal financial and personal information, so caution is necessary.

The city emphasized that the government does not send disaster alert text messages containing internet addresses (URLs) when notifying the public about system disruptions or other emergencies. If you receive such a message, do not click on any internet address (URL) and delete it immediately. If you have already opened the message, you can seek assistance by reporting it to the Integrated Report and Response Center for Telecommunications Financial Fraud.