The scheme involved fraudsters impersonating various roles such as card delivery personnel, credit card company representatives, and financial supervisory staff to deceive victims into believing they were involved in crimes like personal information leakage or identity theft. Under the guise of conducting a financial investigation or asset protection, they coerced victims into taking out home equity loans. They then persuaded the victims to transfer all their assets to a so-called national safety account and embezzled the loan funds.
As such fraudulent activities targeting the elderly through fake card issuance and loan scams became rampant, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) issued a consumer alert warning on the 10th.
Along with this alert, the FSS provided a three-step guideline to prevent such fraud. In the first step, they advised never to click on links from unknown sources and to verify any card issuance directly with the card company’s main contact number. They also emphasized the need to be suspicious if keywords like “information leakage” or “identity theft” are mentioned.
For the next step, they urged caution if keywords such as “involvement in crime,” “arrest investigation,” or “confidentiality” are used. If people have communicated with the prosecution or FSS, they should verify the caller’s identity by contacting the relevant organization’s main office number with a different phone line, ensuring they don’t use their mobile phones, which might have malicious applications installed. Instead, they should use a landline or a friend’s phone to reach out to the institution.
Finally, in the third step, they highlighted that government agencies never request money or prompt people to take out loans for financial investigation or asset protection purposes.