Gov't unveils comprehensive measures to fight voice phishing

Government Policy Coordination Minister Yoon Chang-ryeol, third from left, announces measures to fight voice phishing crimes at the Government Complex Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap

The government on Thursday unveiled a set of comprehensive measures to fight voice phishing scams, including tougher punishment for mobile carriers.

The measures were decided at an interagency task force meeting led by Government Policy Coordination Minister Yoon Chang-ryeol and divided according to stage — from when scammers approach victims to their deception and theft followed by law enforcement's investigation.

"Subtle new methods, such as impersonating organizations, have continued to appear recently in voice phishing crimes, sharply increasing the scope of damage and continually threatening the people's wealth and safety," the Office for Government Policy Coordination said in a press release.

Under the new measures, the government will launch a "comprehensive response team" next month led by the police to receive reports of potential scams, analyze them, block access, and launch investigations in a coordinated and real-time manner.

The team will operate around the clock with 137 permanent staff members, up from 43 at an equivalent center currently under operation.

Also, the government will require mobile carriers to draw up criteria to detect unusual activities in new cellphone activations at retail stores, such as a sudden increase in the number of foreign subscribers, and impose tough penalties, including business suspensions, in the event a large number of illegal subscriptions occur as a result of their poor oversight.

The government plans to introduce legislation requiring banks and other financial companies responsible for preventing voice phishing scams to compensate victims in part or in full.

Moreover, the government will launch a designated artificial intelligence platform to gather voice phishing related data from across the financial, telecoms and law enforcement sectors, and track down and block suspicious accounts before they are used in crimes.

To strengthen law enforcement, the government said it will operate a voice phishing task force led by the head of the National Office of Investigation under the National Police Agency and run a special five-month period to crack down on voice phishing from September through January 2026.