[Issue Interview] Hana Bank FDS Veterans Prevent New Fraud Schemes: "A Result of 10 Years' Expertise and Relentless Persistence"

Interview with Hana Bank’s Financial Fraud Prevention Team


Preemptive Action Against the 'KReSIM Scam'

Protecting 18.5 Billion Won in Customer Assets

A Legal Blind Spot: "Without a Sense of Mission, It Would Have Been Impossible"

How to Prevent Fraud Damage: "Be Suspicious of the Account Before Making a Deposit"

"When it comes to financial fraud, the most important thing is to develop a thorough scenario in order to filter out suspicious accounts from the very beginning. After that, there aren't really any special tricks. In the recent new type of investment scam, we blocked the first account identified as suspicious, and then verified and tracked related derivative accounts, which prevented further damage. Meticulousness and persistence are our special skills in themselves."

On August 25 at Hana Bank’s Euljiro headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, we met Jonghee Yoon, Team Leader, and Seonggeon Son, Deputy Manager of the Financial Fraud Prevention Team. When asked about the preemptive measures taken against the new investment fraud "KReSIM," which generated victims nationwide earlier this year, they shared these details. Deputy Manager Son added, "In particular, this case was like digging up a potato root—once we identified one suspicious account and dug deeper, a series of related accounts surfaced, like potatoes clinging to the roots."

Yoon Jonghee, Head of the Financial Fraud Prevention Team at Hana Bank (right), and Son Seonggun, Deputy Manager, are posing. Photo by Yoon Dongju

KReSIM: Exploiting a Legal Loophole—'A Sense of Duty Was Required Beyond Professionalism'

Since February this year, Hana Bank’s Financial Fraud Prevention Team has run a dedicated monitoring system that incorporates KReSIM’s investment scam transaction patterns into its own Fraud Detection System (FDS). Over the six-month period, the team proactively protected a total of 1,450 transactions, amounting to approximately 18.5 billion won in customer assets.

KReSIM and similar new types of investment scams are classified as general fraud, not telecommunication financial fraud. As a result, financial institutions have been unable to fully monitor or respond through the FDS, creating a legal blind spot, since the Special Act on Compensation for Damage Caused by Telecommunication Financial Fraud (the law governing FDS) focuses mainly on phone and online banking scams. This is the reason other financial institutions have been reluctant to actively monitor or freeze accounts.

Hana Bank was able to respond more promptly to the KReSIM case thanks to its accumulated experience leading the fight against new fraud schemes. Team Leader Yoon noted, "It wasn't that we specifically set out to crack this case—it surfaced in the process of handling our ongoing work on new types of fraud prevention."

The process was not smooth. Deputy Manager Son explained, "Most new scams operate as loosely-connected groups that quickly execute and disappear, but in this case, elements of a Ponzi scheme and multi-level marketing were combined, allowing it to continue for a long time. Customers weren't even aware they were being defrauded, so there were many civil complaints when accounts were frozen." He added, "Even employees voiced concerns, questioning whether this really was a bona fide financial incident and if our response was appropriate for the situation."

Despite these difficulties, they did not abandon their preemptive measures out of a strong sense of mission to prevent losses. Deputy Manager Son explained, “Fraudsters don't draw a line and say they'll only commit telecom scams. It is clear that their methods are shifting toward investment fraud. If we stick only to blocking telecommunication scams, our preventive effectiveness decreases. I was convinced that our strong, proactive response would make scammers avoid using Hana Bank, ultimately reducing customer damage.”

Indeed, after Hana Bank aggressively blocked KReSIM-related transactions, the scam operators posted a notice on their own website stating, "Hana Bank accounts cannot be used for transactions."

A New Focus: Investment Scam Apps—Suspicion of Accounts Before Transfers is the Key to Prevention

So far this year, Hana Bank has recorded zero cases in which third parties have withdrawn money from customer accounts via phishing or hacking ("electronic financial accident damages," excluding open banking). This was possible because they developed sophisticated monitoring scenarios and responded forcefully to any incidents. The team’s confidence comes from years of experience; most members, including Deputy Manager Son who has been on site for 12 years since the full-scale introduction of voice phishing prevention in 2015, are seasoned professionals with more than 10 years of service.

Deputy Manager Son said, "We are very proactive in freezing transactions in advance, but you cannot do that unless you are confident that the account is suspicious. You need to be certain that a crime has occurred, and to do that, you need both strong scenarios and many years of experience." Team Leader Yoon also emphasized, "No matter how well you construct FDS scenarios, if a short-term employee leaks scenario data or transaction patterns externally, or even cooperates with criminal organizations, the entire FDS system could be rendered useless." He therefore highlighted the importance of training dedicated, long-term staff.

Sunggeon Son, Deputy Manager of the Financial Fraud Prevention Team at Hana Bank, is being interviewed by The Asia Business Daily. Photo by Dongju Yoon

The team is now closely monitoring the rise of new investment scam applications (apps). Team Leader Yoon stated, "While some apps are outright illegal, many scam apps are now brazenly listed in official app stores. When a customer logs in to the Hana Bank mobile app, we monitor for any malicious apps installed on the device. If a new scam app pattern is detected during this process, our system is updated accordingly, allowing us to identify and block those apps as a form of preemptive prevention."

Given the growing sophistication of financial fraud, the team urges consumers to develop the habit of scrutinizing an account before making any deposits. Deputy Manager Son warned, "If you're applying for a loan and someone tells you to transfer money to a law office account instead of a bank or virtual account, or if the account name for an investment is not the investment company's name, or you're told to deposit into an individual’s account, it is almost certainly a scam. Any time you're asked to transfer to a totally unrelated personal or corporate account, you should stop and review the situation before proceeding."

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