Voice Phishing: The New Generation of Scamming
By: Julie of KIS
SDGs: Quality education
Voice phishing (or 보이스피싱 in Korean) has become one of the most prevalent financial scams targeting South Korean families. Scammers often employ technological tools to impersonate government officials, bank representatives, or even family members in distress, exploiting trust and urgency to extract money and personal information from vulnerable victims. According to the Korean National Police Agency, voice phishing damages exceeded 700 billion won in recent years. In particular, these scams frequently target those who lack digital literacy. Without the consistent exposure to media, victims are often unable to recognize red flags and instead are pressured to act due to the emotional tactics that scammers employ.
My project aimed to address this gap by developing accessible, bilingual educational materials (such as written guides or more lighthearted card games) designed for families. These tools covered how to identify common scam tactics, red flags in particular technological tools scammers may rely on, and steps to take after being targeted. The framework of these tools was largely inspired by organizations like Common Sense Education, which has built scalable media literacy resources for families. In the future, I hope to distribute these materials through community centers and expand this educational content to a variety of families. Beyond written materials, I also connected with a practicing attorney overseas to explore how legal contexts could be used to further mitigate these crimes, specifically by looking into what protections are available in other countries.
My project aimed to address this gap by developing accessible, bilingual educational materials (such as written guides or more lighthearted card games) designed for families. These tools covered how to identify common scam tactics, red flags in particular technological tools scammers may rely on, and steps to take after being targeted. The framework of these tools was largely inspired by organizations like Common Sense Education, which has built scalable media literacy resources for families. In the future, I hope to distribute these materials through community centers and expand this educational content to a variety of families. Beyond written materials, I also connected with a practicing attorney overseas to explore how legal contexts could be used to further mitigate these crimes, specifically by looking into what protections are available in other countries.