The Financial Supervisory Service said voice phishing rings are increasingly attempting to launder money by disguising it as direct gold transactions and urged investors to be cautious.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) on Feb. 8 issued a consumer alert of "caution" and said there have been cases of voice phishing proceeds being transferred through online trading platforms.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), they pose as prosecutors or the FSS to approach voice phishing victims and instruct them to transfer funds at a set time. At the same time, they conduct asset transactions on online trading platforms where values are surging. Recently, with gold prices rising sharply, they have been using gold.
They approach gold sellers to induce a transaction, then arrange for voice phishing funds to be transferred at the actual meeting time. In the end, the gold seller recognizes the money sent by the voice phishing victim as the transaction payment and hands over the gold to the scammer.
This type of crime stood at one case in Oct. last year, but rose to 13 in Nov., nine in Dec., and 11 cases in Jan. this year.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said, "Gold swindles can happen to anyone regardless of age or occupation," and noted, "It is necessary to carefully verify whether the depositor is the actual counterparty to the transaction by checking the conversation history and identification."
It also urged caution in direct transactions as scams involving silver and foreign currency (dollars, euros, etc.), in addition to gold, have been increasing recently.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said, "In particular, for foreign currency, scams tend to focus on leftover cash after overseas travel during the Lunar New Year holidays, so please be extra careful," and added, "We will work with platform companies to strengthen consumer guidance and enhance post monitoring to eradicate damage."