An internet phone operator that failed to comply with a corrective order to stop voice phishing that impersonated representative numbers of public institutions and corporations has been expelled from the market.
The Central Radio Management Service of the Ministry of Science and ICT said on the 16th that it canceled the facilities-based telecommunications business registration of Onse Telecom Link. It said the reason was that the company did not, without justifiable reason, comply with an order to put in place preventive measures to block caller ID spoofing.
Since the end of last year, the Central Radio Management Service has received 30 reports suspected of voice phishing disguised as representative numbers of post offices, card companies, and delivery firms. In response, an on-site inspection of Onse Telecom Link in December last year confirmed a violation of the obligation to prevent caller ID manipulation.
Caller ID manipulation is a method of displaying someone else's or an institution's number on the recipient's screen when making a call or sending a text, instead of the actual number. If a public institution's representative number appears, the recipient is more likely to trust the call, raising the risk of harm. Telecommunications operators must have technical measures in place to detect and block this.
Authorities issued two corrective orders to Onse Telecom Link and required completion of related measures by Mar. 6 this year, but the company did not carry them out by the deadline. The Central Radio Management Service finalized the cancellation of the registration on the 23rd of last month through a hearing process under the Telecommunications Business Act.
The action is a follow-up measure to the "comprehensive plan to prevent illegal use of mobile phones" announced on the 30th of last month. Onse Telecom Link must also carry out user protection procedures, such as immediately notifying subscribers individually of the service termination.
The representative and related persons responsible for the cancellation of registration cannot be appointed as executives of a facilities-based telecommunications operator for the next three years. If telecommunications business continues after the registration is canceled, they may face imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 150 million won.