Beware of loan offers in text messages that appear to come from your bank. Voice phishing scams are getting more clever. Phishing fraudsters induce victims to download a fake bank app on their smartphones and gain access to private personal and financial information to steal their money. Mike Balfour reports.

Early this month, a man in his seventies, known as A, received a loan offer text message from a bank.

He downloaded the app the text message was showing. Immediately, he became a victim of voice phishing.

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Voice phishing loan scams

An increasing number of victims of voice phishing by text or calls offering low interest rate loans are being reported.

The fraudsters steal financial information and quickly transfer the victims' money.



For the first eleven months this year, about 400 cases of voice phishing using the bait of low interest loans have been reported in Jeju.

The amount of money transferred to fraudsters has increased 70 percent compared with last year and exceeds 3 billion won.





When the app is downloaded, a smartphone is infected with malicious code.

The malicious code intercepts calls to the Financial Supervisory Service and police to make it difficult for legal authorities to monitor, trace or block loan scams.




INTERVIEW
Kim Yong-on / Jeju Provincial Police Agency
Smartphone users should beware of text messages or calls that encourage you to download unidentified apps or access a specific website. Please remove the text messages immediately to avoid voice phishing scams.
<인터뷰 :김용온/ 제주지방경찰청 수사2계장 >
"대출을 앱 설치를 유도하는 대출 상담 전화는 사기로 의심되고 또한 출처가 불분명한 문자메시지와 인터넷 주소, 또는 앱 등을 확인하거나 설치하지 말고 보는 즉 삭제해야 보이스피싱 피해를 예방할 수 있습니다."

As voice phishing is evolving everyday, smartphone users should not download apps that don't clearly provide information on developers and should use the Pol-Anti Spy App developed by the police to prevent voice phishing.


[Reporter] Mike Balfour
[Camera] Park Byeong-june
File Source: Jeju Provincial Police Agency


Mike Balfour, KCTV