"Must Think 'I Could Fall Victim Too' About Financial Fraud"... Woori Bank Strengthens Prevention System (Comprehensive)

Woori Bank Holds "Financial Fraud Prevention Briefing" at Its Headquarters
Jeon Jaehong, Chief of the Financial Fraud Prevention Division, Gives Presentation
Woori Bank Strengthens Organization-Wide Financial Fraud Prevention System

"Thinking, 'I could also fall victim to financial fraud,' is the starting point for responding to it."

Woori Bank President Jung Jinwan delivers opening remarks at the "Press Briefing on Financial Fraud Prevention" held at Woori Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 12th. Woori Bank.

Jeon Jaehong, chief of Woori Bank's Financial Fraud Prevention Division, made the remarks at a press conference on financial fraud prevention held at Woori Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on October 12. Jeon is an expert in financial fraud investigations who served as a police officer for 24 years before retiring as a senior superintendent. He led efforts to arrest the leaders and other members of the group that impersonated "Team Leader Kim Mi-young," one of the groups associated with the early days of voice phishing, as well as investigations into overseas voice phishing organizations. "People who think they could fall victim to financial fraud themselves will look into the different ways scams are carried out," he said. "That kind of awareness is necessary to find ways to respond to financial fraud."

Among the financial scams people should be most wary of today, he cited "Pig Butchering," in which scammers build a relationship with victims before urging them to invest, and "Recovery Scams," in which scammers approach people who have already lost money to financial fraud and offer to recover it. Pig Butchering is a scam in which fraudsters build relationships through social media and other channels before recommending investments. The term comes from the Chinese phrase "sha zhu pan" and refers to a method of spending a long time cultivating a victim's trust before stealing a large sum, much like raising a pig before slaughtering it.

Pig Butchering scams generally take one of two forms: investment scams, in which fraudsters pose as investment experts, and romance scams, in which they pretend to be romantic partners. In investment scams, fraudsters approach victims through social media and initially encourage them to make small investments, allowing them to see apparent returns. They then persuade the victims to sign up for fake investment platforms and invest more, block withdrawals, and disappear. Romance scams often begin with fraudsters pretending to have made contact by chance on social media or dating apps. They ask after victims every day and promise a future together to build an emotional bond. They then casually show them investment success stories and fabricated screenshots of profits. Next, they urge them to invest, saying, "Let's prepare for our future together," before taking large sums of money and vanishing.

"Because victims voluntarily sent the money, it has been difficult to recover their losses in Pig Butchering cases," Jeon said. "Romance scammers in particular contact people on social media who have lost a spouse or a pet, such as a dog or cat, and exploit their loneliness. Victims tend to realize what has happened and report it later because they have lost both love and money."

Recovery scams are a form of secondary fraud targeting people who have already fallen victim to financial scams. Criminal organizations obtain victims' information and then approach them while posing as investigators or refund experts. They deceive victims into thinking they can recover their losses and demand money for fees, taxes, or other expenses.

Jeon identified two reasons financial fraud persists: "the expansion of new criminal opportunities as technology advances" and "a system in which tracking and apprehending criminals struggles to keep pace with increasingly internationalized crime organizations." As digital technologies such as smartphones, social media, and generative artificial intelligence (AI) have become part of everyday life, scams using methods that were once impossible are being carried out rapidly. In addition, criminal organizations operate from overseas bases and across national borders, making investigations and arrests time-consuming and difficult. Their bases have also become more dispersed, moving from Taiwan and China to the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, and other countries, while the organizations themselves are increasingly splitting into smaller groups.

Jeon Jaehong, senior executive overseeing financial fraud prevention, explains evolving financial fraud schemes and key achievements in preventing losses at a press briefing on financial fraud prevention held at Woori Bank's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 12th. Woori Bank

"According to police statistics, domestic losses from financial fraud rose from KRW 791.1 billion in 2022 to KRW 2.3755 trillion last year, nearly tripling in three years," Jeon said. "The methods have evolved beyond the old model of a single organization committing crimes primarily by phone. Today, technology development, victim recruitment and execution, and money transfers and laundering are handled by separate groups, and these operations are combined with new technologies such as smartphones, social media, messaging apps, and generative AI."

Jeon emphasized the importance of preventing financial fraud. "From 2022 through the first quarter of 2026, the rate of recovering losses from voice phishing was around 22%," he said. "That's why it is important to detect and block warning signs before money is transferred, rather than relying on refunds afterward."

Woori Bank is strengthening its organization-wide financial fraud prevention system. It has established a dedicated financial fraud prevention department and recruited Jeon. The bank is also expanding the foundation for joint responses by building cooperative networks with external agencies, including Gangbuk Police Station and Anyang Manan Police Station, and sharing information on new types of financial fraud.

The bank is also broadening the use of information on suspected financial fraud through cooperation between its Fraud Detection System (FDS) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) departments. In one case, monitoring revealed inconsistencies in the explanations given about the relationship between a customer and the other parties involved. The bank identified the possibility of fraud and prevented a loss of KRW 260 million. It has also stopped further losses involving loan funds. When it detected an unusual transaction as KRW 180 million in loan proceeds was being transferred to a gold exchange account, a call with the victim revealed that the transaction had been made at the direction of a scammer impersonating a prosecutor. The bank stopped the transaction and reported it, preventing the loss.

Woori Bank has set "Woori Bank leading the way in financial fraud prevention" as its mid- to long-term vision. First, it plans to reorganize its response system around AI-based detection capabilities, specialized response teams, and cooperation and training systems with external organizations. It will then enhance the organization's response capabilities by standardizing detection and analysis work, expanding its pool of specialists and training, and strengthening information sharing and links to reporting channels.

The bank also plans to speed up its response to new types of financial fraud by combining generative AI with telecommunications data. It will use generative AI to analyze new types of financial fraud and warning signs, and to support the development of new detection scenarios and policies. The bank plans to launch a new AI monitoring system by November and stabilize it by the end of 2026.

In his opening remarks, Woori Bank President Jung Jinwan said, "We will further strengthen our prevention system so that we can detect warning signs before they escalate and stop customers' money from reaching scammers, rather than limiting ourselves to providing relief after losses occur."

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