By Lee Kyung-min
Police issued a warning for a new type of phishing scam, in which scammers impersonate Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) officials and visit victims in person to take their money.
The Seoul Seongdong Police Station said it has detained eight men for allegedly swindling some 260 million won ($229,000) out of six elderly people using this method.
Police are trying to locate other suspects who are reportedly staying in China.
Police said the scammers first made random calls and chose only those who lived alone. The caller then falsely identified himself as a FSS official, pretending to inform the victim about a hacking attempt into his account, saying the money is in danger of being transferred to another account abroad.
Then the caller hurriedly asked the victim to withdraw all the cash at the nearest ATM and hand it over to their “agent,” who would visit them to guarantee the safe deposit of the money.
After the victim came back with the cash, a man with a false FSS identification visited to collect the money.
Police said the “agent” dressed up with a black suit, sported a professional looking haircut and carried a briefcase.
He took the money after giving the victims fake debit cards and saying their money was safe and they would have no problem withdrawing it.
“The elderly fell victim to such a scheme because the suspects looked and sounded like real FSS officials,” a police officer said. “No institution in the country ever asks for a cash withdrawal or money transfer to another account. Whoever is making such a demand is a criminal.”