Crime Takes No Holidays... 40,000 Voice-Phishing Cases Over Six Holiday Seasons

Average Loss Per Case More Than Doubles
Institution-Impersonation Scams Account for Over 70% of Total Losses

Over the past six years, voice-phishing losses occurring around the Lunar New Year and Chuseok holidays have been confirmed to exceed 40,000 cases. The data show that crimes are concentrated during the holiday period, and the loss per case is also increasing.

Over the past six years, voice-phishing cases occurring around the Lunar New Year and Chuseok holidays have topped 40,000.

According to data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to Assemblyman Lee Yangsoo of the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee on the 14th, there were a total of 44,883 voice-phishing cases between 2020 and 2025 during January to February and September to October, the periods that include the Lunar New Year and Chuseok holidays.

The total amount of damage reached approximately 465 billion won. By year, the average loss per case has been steadily rising. The average loss per case in January to February 2020 was around 9.4 million won, but during the same period last year it increased to 21.5 million won. This represents more than a twofold increase over five years.

By type, schemes impersonating public institutions or financial institutions stood out. In particular, it was found that, as of January to February last year, more than 70% of total losses came from institution-impersonation crimes.

Assemblyman Lee Yangsoo said, “Not only has the average loss per case risen significantly compared to the past, but the share of institution-impersonation cases is now exceeding 70%, showing that the crime structure itself is changing,” adding, “Financial authorities must closely examine the occurrence trends by type and refine their response strategies.”

As the scale and sophistication of scams around the holidays have grown in this way, the government has also moved to strengthen its response tools. The Ministry of Science and ICT has recommended using smartphone-based artificial intelligence (AI) detection functions in preparation for a possible increase in voice-phishing attempts during the Lunar New Year holiday. It explained that Samsung Electronics and the three mobile carriers are operating services that analyze call content in real time and warn users of suspicious calls.

Samsung Electronics has built a suspicion and warning alert function into the default Phone app on Galaxy smartphones. SK Telecom provides alerts about risk signals during calls through its “Adot Phone” app, while KT offers a real-time contextual analysis function in its “Whowho” app. LG Uplus also supports voice spoofing detection and comparison with criminal voice samples through its “Ixio” app.

The Ministry of Science and ICT noted that attempts to commit crimes by impersonating delivery services, acquaintances, or subsidy providers tend to increase around the holidays, and urged the public to exercise particular caution regarding suspicious calls.

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