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Gov’t to bolster efforts to root out phishing scams
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By Lee Kyung-min
The government is establishing a pan-government control body in an organized effort to eradicate voice phishing crimes, the country’s top financial regulator said Friday.
A monitoring center under the presidential office will take charge, supported by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the police to outline more effective countermeasures, including prevention measures.
The police workforce will be strengthened to include specialized officers and investigators to provide more systematic, continuous victim support and perpetrator identification.
Also mobilized will be the Presidential Secretary for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Future Planning as well as the Ministry of Science and ICT. The country’s three major telecom service providers will devise technical support.
The FSC is seeking to set up an around-the-clock monitoring system among financial institutions, telecom service providers and law enforcement to detect and prevent voice phishing.
The integrated system will expand the current fraud detection system (FDS), long limited to financial entities to monitor suspicious transactions.
The FDS is an automated anti-fraud system designed to analyze customer transaction patterns in real time and report irregularities.
Its largest shortcoming is that it only flags a transaction that significantly exceeds a customer’s usual online remittance amount.
The updated system will have a list of high-risk customers and block large cash transfers or withdrawals.
Meanwhile, the FSC will hold a meeting Monday in Yeouido, Seoul, with officials from the Korea Federation of Banks, police and phishing crime victims. The victims will share their firsthand accounts with the attendees.
The officials will discuss ways to detect early signs of scams and ways to prevent damage in advance.
The National Police Agency is planning to set up a task force for investigating phishing-related crimes, including voice phishing, text message phishing and investment chatroom scams.
The National Assembly passed a revision of the law governing financial investment businesses during a plenary session in January.
Under the revision, suggesting that investment losses can be recovered or guaranteeing profits will be punishable by up to three years in prison or a fine.
Individuals misrepresenting employees of established financial services firms with the intent to mislead investors may face fines of up to 100 million won ($72,580). Similar fines will be imposed for making misleading promises of high returns grounded on falsely asserted previous returns.
As a result, the prevalence of so-called "stock leading rooms," which are fake investment advisories often associated with online investment fraud, could decrease.
The revision will strengthen investor protection, underpinned by strict regulation and monitoring of and punishment for infractions.