The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has issued a 'consumer alert' and urged extra caution as a new type of voice phishing scam targeting low-credit individuals continues to run rampant.

"Loan Available If You Buy Gift Certificates"... New Voice Phishing Warning Recently, voice phishing criminal organizations have been impersonating employees of financial institutions, such as savings banks, to approach low-income individuals with low credit scores. They use a scheme in which they deceive victims by claiming that "you can get a loan if you build up a record of purchasing gift certificates," and then receive their debit cards and bank books.

After receiving funds from other voice phishing victims into the secured accounts, the scammers immediately purchase large quantities of gift certificates at large discount store kiosks to convert them into cash. It has been found that the purchased gift certificates are then exchanged for virtual assets through couriers and delivered to the mastermind abroad.

As cases of large discount store kiosks being exploited for laundering these illicit funds increase, the FSS, in consultation with gift certificate issuers, implemented measures to drastically lower the gift certificate purchase limit from the previous 5 million won per transaction to 1 million won per transaction and per day. Additionally, the FSS is working to expand information sharing and establish joint countermeasures across the financial sector, including the utilization of an AI-based voice phishing information sharing platform (ASAP).

"Loan Screening Does Not Require Gift Certificate Purchase Records" The FSS emphasized that mainstream financial institutions do not require purchase records for highly liquid goods, such as gift certificates, precious metals, or foreign currency, during the loan screening process. It then warned that the claim "you can get a loan if you buy gift certificates" is 100% a scam.

Furthermore, it added that in the case of a legitimate loan refinancing, the new financial institution disbursing the loan repays the previous financial institution directly, so there is no instance where they would request a principal transfer to an individual's personal account.

Handing Over Debit Cards or Bank Books May Lead to 'Criminal Punishment' If you hand over access media, such as debit cards and bank books, to another person, you may be subject to criminal punishment rather than simply being considered a victim. Under the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, transferring access media is punishable by up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won. If you provided them knowing they would be used for voice phishing, you can be punished as an accomplice to fraud.

If you realize you have been victimized, you must immediately report the card as lost or suspended to the relevant financial institution, halt account transactions, and report the incident to the police (112). To prevent further damage, it is also advisable to subscribe to various safety-blocking services, such as credit transaction restrictions, non-face-to-face account opening restrictions, and the open banking safe-blocking service. The FSS repeatedly urged the public, "Never accept proposals claiming that 'you can get a loan if you build up a record of purchasing gift certificates,' and please be especially careful never to hand over your bank book or debit card to anyone else."