Some scammers pose as relatives or friends, sending messages to urge you to wire money immediately. They say they need cash to help with an emergency. Their goal is to trick you into sending money before you realize it’s a scam.
Joseph Kim has more.

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A text message sent from an unknown number.
It says “Mom, my cellphone isn’t working, please reply to this text message”.

This is a new tactic for text message phishing.
Scammers send fake messages impersonating relatives or friends to trick victims into giving them their personal information or money.


If a text reply is sent to the fraudulent message, another text message is quickly sent that urges the victim to wire money immediately saying the cellphone is out of order.

Scammers avoid talking directly on the phone.


Victims, mostly in their fifties and sixties who have children lost their money to such a scam.


According to the Financial Supervisory Service, the total damage from phone scams reached 235.3 billion won last year. It decreased by 65 percent compared with the previous year.


Meanwhile, damage from text scams increased 10.8 percent, accounting for 15.9 percent of total damage from phone scams.



Voice phishing where a scammer directly calls the victim and pretends to be a bank teller or a prosecutor has decreased, while text scams where a scammer impersonates relatives have increased.


In Jeju, not a few victims fall for fraud text messages in which a scammer impersonates their child and urges victims to send a photo of the ID card and a credit card. The scammer says money is immediately needed to repair cell phone screens.

Police and financial authorities advise that if someone sends a message claiming to be a family member or a friend desperate for money, verify the person’s identity.
And if a text message sender avoids a direct phone call, it could be a text scammer.

As phone-based scams are evolving, phone users are advised to be mindful of mobile phone fraud, especially the new text messaging scam that has been making its way around the country.

Joseph Kim, KCTV