The South Korean government is out to strengthen its infrastructure to stop the country’s growing cryptocurrency phishing activities. According to local reports, with the rise in prices for most cryptocurrencies, phishing activities have tripled this year in South Korea. The South Korean ICT Ministry is leading the initiative, teaming up with the National Police Agency. According to a report by local outlet Yonhap, the ministry has noticed a rise in phishing attempts, especially through text messages.
The ICT ministry blocked 32 phishing websites in 3 months.
In the past three months, the ministry had uncovered and blocked 32 phishing sites. This is a rapid rise compared to the 41 such websites the ministry detected the whole of 2020. Usually, the scammers lure their victims to key in their credentials on fake websites, and as soon as the targets fall for the trick, the scammers take over and wipe out the digital currency accounts. According to the ministry, some of the phishing attempts are not complicated and prey on their victims’ lack of attention to detail.
The ICT Ministry is strengthening its 24-hour monitoring system to block crypto phishing scams.
In response to the rise of these phishing websites, the ICT Ministry is strengthening its 24-hour monitoring system to block such crypto phishing websites swiftly. South Korea’s National Police Agency has been cracking down on these sites since the start of March this year, the outlet further revealed. As of last week, the police were investigating 21 cases in which fraudsters accessed their victims’ cryptocurrency wallets and stole their funds. The police have also been investigating other crimes related to cryptocurrencies, including money laundering. The last few months have been booming for cryptocurrencies as several digital currencies witnessed their prices shot up many folds. However, this has also led to an increase in crypto crimes. According to a report by the Financial Supervisory Service, digital currency-related fraud shot up 42% last year.
