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| gettyimagesbank |
By Yoon Ja-young
When a bank customer wants to withdraw a lump sum of money from their account, they will be asked some specific questions to prevent them from falling prey to voice phishing starting next month, the financial regulator announced on Thursday.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), customers withdrawing 5 million won ($3,700) or more at the banks will be asked some questions to check if they are being scammed.
The crime has become more sophisticated in recent years, coming in diverse forms. The FSS noted that men in their 40s and 50s are often victimized by scammers who claim that they will help them switch to cheaper loans, while women in their 60s or older often send money to criminals who claim that they are the victim's family. To withdraw cash, customers will have to answer questions to verify that they are not being manipulated.
If customers withdraw more than 10 million won, bank clerks will confirm why the customer needs so much cash. Elderly customers in their 60s or older will also be asked whether they had a phone call with someone before coming to the bank.
If a customer tries to cancel a savings account without a clear reason and insists on getting the money in cash, despite the clerk recommending receipt in a check or sending the money directly to another account, the bank clerk will alert the police following the guidelines. This is because more scammers are getting cash directly from the victims instead of fooling them to send money to their bank accounts. The ratio has soared to 73.4 percent last year from 8.6 percent in 2019.
The FSS stressed that government organizations and financial companies never make phone calls or send text messages to request cash.
Most recently, a doctor fell prey to voice phishing, sending 4.1 billion won ($3 million) in cash, insurance, stocks and cryptocurrencies to criminals. That is the biggest official amount ever stolen in a single voice phishing case in the country.
According to the police, criminals claiming to be prosecutors said that the doctor's account was being used for money laundering, and threatened to arrest the doctor unless he helped with their investigation. They sent a fake arrest warrant and other documents through messenger service, which the prosecution never does. They said they will return the money after verifying that the doctor has no relation with the money launderers.
They made the doctor install an app, which enabled them steal all of his private information. Moreover, they also hijacked the doctor's phone calls ― when the doctor called the official phone number of the FSS, the app connected the call with a criminal ring member.
The police stressed that anybody, regardless of profession or level of education, can fall prey to these crimes as scammers use cutting-edge technologies nowadays.
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