FSC ramps up efforts to combat online phishing through improved coordination, new AI platform

The country's financial regulator said Thursday that regular, systematic cooperation among related government agencies will take place to better detect and crack down on new types of online phishing crimes.

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) said financial institutions and related agencies will upgrade their existing fraud detection system this year to more effectively spot such online crimes and mule accounts, as well as share related information.

Also, starting next month, financial accounts suspected of being linked to new types of phishing crimes, including romance scams, will be swiftly frozen.

Voice phishing insurance, among a series of other products, will be rolled out as well to better protect the victims of phishing crimes, the FSC said.

Phishing is a type of crime where victims are conned into transferring money to scammers or sharing their personal information, thus allowing fraudsters to access their bank accounts.

Meanwhile, a new AI-based platform has prevented some 47.5 billion won ($31.5 million) in financial losses from voice phishing scams over the past six months, according to the state regulator.

The country launched the platform, dubbed the AI-based Phishing Sharing and Analysis Platform, or ASAP for short, in late October of last year to enhance anti-fraud efforts.

The FSC said 317,000 cases of voice phishing-related information have been shared among financial institutions during the cited period, and that transfers from 5,261 accounts have been halted.

Yonhap