Scam texts impersonating public institutions surge by nearly 20-fold

Smishing text messages impersonating public institutions surged last year by nearly 20-fold compared to 2022. Financial authorities are urging caution as similar crimes are expected to rise around the Lunar New Year holidays.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service and the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) on Tuesday, the number of scam text messages, which was identified by KISA last year, totaled 503,300, of which 350,010 (or 69.5%) falsely claiming to be from public institutions, a 19.7-fold increase from 17,726 cases in 2022. This type of smishing coaxes users to click on fake Internet addresses (URLs) related to traffic law violations, free health insurance checkups, etc.

“Scams involving health checkups and weddings are frequently used in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said a KISA official. More recently, there has been a growing number of scam text messages disguised as funeral invitations, increasing from 25 cases in 2021, four cases in 2022, to 59,565 cases in 2023.


wizi@donga.com