As untact society is growing, new types of SNS scam are rising fast. Phishing scam has occurred to revitalize used product these days. Also a new word appeared: ‘romance scam’. It is a new method of scamming. Perpetrators approach their victim with goodwill and strong belief. Next, they demand money and steal it. The police reported that new types of investment technique scams have appeared recently. Perpetrators upload false review pretending that profit can be multiplied 10 times profit for the investment. The national police agency cyber bureau said: “In the first half of this year’s scam special regulation, we arrested 8,076 fraudsters and imprisoned 670 people”. Let’s examine various new scams and how to prevent them.
Romance Scam entails a criminal that advertises plausible jobs like soldiers and doctors and later reveal their true nature. In particular, the possibility of damage has increased as interpersonal contact has decreased because of COVID-19 restriction. As a precaution, first, you should refrain from adding indiscriminately SNS friends. Personal information can be leaked and even if there is a small possibility, you will be victim of a crime. Lee Jin-kwon, a professor of police at Hannam University, said overseas Koreans socializing on the Internet is a cautionary matter; most importantly, demand for money is not easily responded to. Romance scams usually happen a lot with people abroad. If Koreans have suffered damage, it’s virtually impossible to recover. In "domestic remittance" crime cases, don’t give money hoping for recovery. Domestic remittance is voice phishing crime committed in Korea. For example, it’s a crime of pretending to be a lawyer to give money and hiding traces. The most important thing is to report it immediately. Also, it is necessary for police to search financial institutions. If you have suffered damage, quickly report it and explain the damage situation to police.
New types of SNS scams occur on trading sites where things are sold but payment is not received. Transaction sites offer access to fake safety pay sites if victim wants to withdraw money. There are many new fraud methods, but all methods are similar. "Fake Safe Payment Phishing" and "Voice Phishing" are deceiving the other person by installing malicious apps or codes on the other person device so that you can use the other person’s device as if it is your own. To prevent crime, famous second-hand trading sites such as "Secondhand Country" and "Carrot Market" are the safest. However, 100% fraud free cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, if you are reducing the use of new sites and install apps, log in, and visit them to scrutinize them first. Criminals aim to buy something cheaply and will take advantage of victims' impatience. So, when purchasing, it is important not to be impatient, in order to be in the right mindset.
Finally, new methods of fraud related to stocks and financial matters are also appearing. Investment is likely to lead to financial losses. The selling price of an investment may appear to be attractive, but can occasion a loss because of commission paid and tax. If you suffer a crime, reporting will not lead to full compensation. It depends on the situation, but victims swindled through SNS must respond quickly and accurately. Rewarded Rate was difficult to estimate. Professor Lee Jin-kwon said, "Serious fraud crimes can be punishable with 10 years in jail. The special criminal law can lead to heavy punishment. He said, “that will be decided by the judges on the court referring to the amount of fraud, the nature of the crime, the amount of damage, and the agreement."
Recently, Internet fraud reporting site, The Cheat, the average number of fraud reports per month including mom cafes, along with second-hand trading platforms, is estimated in the tens of thousands as of January this year. It is worrying that it was difficult to recover damages from Internet fraud. Beyond a safe second-hand trading platform on external channels using SNS, such as Kakao Talk, there is no way to respond to transactions. The Seoul Metropolitan Government predicted that future direct transaction damage might increase through SNS. In addition, Yoon Dae-jin, head of the consumer protection team, explained: "To prevent damage to SNS shopping, payment methods including purchasing safety devices should be introduced or foreign SNS platform operators should establish a customer center." The city is also considering rating information on 100,000 Internet shopping malls reported to the e-commerce center and information related to consumer protection as "an asterisk." In the future, police said, when the people's livelihood is threatened, criminal investigations must be carried out, actively promoting the restitution of criminal profits and strengthening their ability to track down funds.
