This year’s annual voice phishing damage exceeded 1,056,600,000,000 won ($718 million) in just the first 10 months, marking the first time losses have surpassed 1 trillion won.
According to the Korean National Police Agency, voice phishing losses had decreased from 774.4 billion won in 2021 to 447.2 billion won in 2023, but surged to 854.5 billion won last year and have now exceeded 1 trillion won.
While the number of cases has declined, from 30,982 in 2021 to 19,972 this year, the average loss per case has doubled, rising from 24.98 million won to 52.9 million won. The police attribute this increase to sophisticated phishing tactics that psychologically manipulate victims, delaying their realization of being scammed and resulting in larger individual losses.
don@heraldcorp.com
