FSS Awards Financial Institutions and Employees Who Led Voice Phishing Prevention in December

[Financial News] The Financial Supervisory Service plans to award outstanding financial companies and employees who have contributed to preventing voice phishing damage and apprehending criminals in the financial sector. The Financial Supervisory Service announced on the 7th that it plans to conduct performance evaluations and reviews of each company's voice phishing prevention efforts this coming November, followed by the awarding of prizes in December. Through this, the Financial Supervisory Service intends to enhance the voice phishing response capabilities of the entire financial sector and disseminate best practices.
This award covers 17 banks, excluding Korea Development Bank (KDB), Export–Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank), and Citibank, as well as institutions and executives affiliated with the mutual financial sector. Evaluation criteria for the institutional sector include the number of accounts used for fraud and the scale of damages, the size of dedicated personnel, IT development performance, financial fraud prevention strategies, organizational operational status, education and public relations performance, and the status of prevention system implementation. For the individual sector, evaluation criteria include the amount of damage prevented, the apprehension of perpetrators, the proactiveness and difficulty of the work, and the potential for disseminating case studies.
Financial institutions operate various voice phishing response systems, including 24-hour abnormal transaction detection, temporary measures on suspicious accounts, financial transaction safety blocking services, and questionnaire systems. When damage is suspected, they continue efforts to prevent further losses and support the apprehension of criminals through cooperation with the police. Branches conduct questionnaires during customer interactions and require customers to answer diagnostic checklists during financial transactions, such as high-value withdrawals or transfers, to identify suspicious circumstances in advance.
In addition, if suspicious transactions are detected through 24-hour abnormal transaction detection, damage is prevented through measures such as temporary account suspension, payment suspension, and customer verification. To reduce fraudulent accounts, measures such as verifying the purpose of financial transactions when opening accounts, and secure blocking services for credit transactions, non-face-to-face account opening, and open banking are also in operation.
Through collaboration with relevant agencies via the AI-based Anti-phishing Sharing and Analysis Platform (ASAP), 463,000 pieces of information on suspected voice phishing were shared from October last year to July this year. As a result, account suspension measures were taken in 7,009 cases, preventing a total of 66.36 billion won in damages in advance. ASAP is an AI platform for sharing and analyzing voice phishing information led by the Financial Security Institute.
The amount of money lost to voice phishing also showed a downward trend. The losses, which stood at 124.8 billion won in December of last year, decreased to 33.7 billion won in July. The Financial Supervisory Service assessed this as "the result of a comprehensive government-wide response and active damage prevention activities by the financial sector."
An official from the Financial Supervisory Service stated, "We plan to hold a briefing for the financial sector in September to provide guidance on the evaluation criteria and reflect performance results up to the end of October in the evaluation," adding, "We also plan to regularize awards for best practices in the future and review measures to provide incentives for the awards."

[email protected] Park Mun-su Reporter