AhnLab: "Nearly Half of Q4 Phishing Texts Impersonated Financial Institutions...Up 343%"

Impersonation phishing scams in which attackers pose as financial institutions and exploit anxiety by citing card issuance or transaction records, then demand personal information, turned out to be the most common type among all phishing cases in the fourth quarter of last year.

According to the "Q4 2025 Phishing SMS Trend Report" released by AhnLab on the 5th, impersonation of financial institutions accounted for 46.93% of phishing text attack types in the fourth quarter of last year (October to December last year), making up nearly half of all cases. This type showed a steep upward trend, with a quarter-on-quarter growth rate of 343.6%. It was followed by impersonation of government and public institutions (16.93%), Telegram-related scams (14.40%), recruitment scams (9.82%), loan scams (5.87%), and impersonation of delivery companies (3.32%).

In financial-institution impersonation scams, attackers frequently aroused users' anxiety by sending messages such as "Card issuance completed notice" or "Transaction record alert," and urging recipients to report immediately if they had not applied for or paid the stated amount. A typical method is to disguise the reporting procedure, insert a phishing site URL or a fake customer service phone number into the message body, and then demand personal information.

As for phishing methods, "URL insertion" accounted for the overwhelming majority at 98.89%. This indicates that, rather than trying out new techniques, attackers are further sophisticating URL-based attacks because they are simple and have high success rates.

To prevent damage from phishing text messages, users should follow security guidelines such as: never clicking on URLs sent by unclear or unknown senders; checking the reputation of suspicious phone numbers; blocking international SMS messages if they are unnecessary for work or daily life; and installing security products on smartphones.

AhnLab stated, "Because topics involving money, job hunting, and other highly engaging issues are combined with seasonal themes that are closely tied to users' daily lives, similar patterns may continue this year as well," adding, "If you share representative phishing techniques with your family and acquaintances in advance and raise awareness, you can prevent damage."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.