South Korean fraud platform blocks 66.36 billion won in attempted theft

South Korea’s shared intelligence platform for voice-phishing threats helped freeze 7,009 accounts and prevent 66.36 billion won from being stolen over roughly nine months, according to the country’s Financial Services Commission.

From the platform’s launch last October through the end of July, banks contributed 463,000 pieces of information about suspicious activity. The system, known as ASAP, allows participating institutions to compare warning signs and act on suspected accounts before transfers are completed.

One intercepted case showed how combining clues can protect an individual. A scammer impersonating a prosecutor persuaded a person nearing retirement to install a remote-access application, open a new mobile-phone line and attempt to move money into a supposed safe account. The recipient account had already been flagged through ASAP. The victim’s bank also detected the malicious application and newly opened phone line, stopped the transfer and made contact before the money left.

Since August 4, the information-sharing framework has expanded beyond financial companies to telecommunications providers and investigative agencies. Telecom companies have already supplied around 100 reports involving phone numbers suspected of use in voice phishing, while banks are connecting those reports to their fraud-detection systems.