As cases of voice phishing rings laundering money through ‘direct gold trades’ increase, the Financial Supervisory Service issued a consumer alert at the ‘Caution’ level. They exploited the rise in person-to-person gold trades on online transaction platforms amid the recent climb in gold prices.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service, scammers first impersonate the prosecution or the FSS and instruct voice phishing victims to transfer funds at a specified time.

At the same time, they approach someone on an online trading platform who says they will sell gold and ask for an account number, saying “I want to buy gold.” They then send that account number to the voice phishing victim. The scheme is designed so that, timed with the moment the seller hands over the gold, the victim transfers the stolen funds to the account.

Because receiving the illicit funds directly by bank transfer from the victim would draw investigative scrutiny, the scammers use the platform's gold seller as a money laundering conduit. In the end, the gold seller recognizes the money sent by the victim as the sale proceeds and hands the gold over to the scammer.

If the voice phishing victim realizes the fraud and reports the gold seller as the scammer, the seller becomes the ‘holder of an account used for fraud’, and their financial transactions are restricted.

Complaints of this type filed with the Financial Supervisory Service totaled 1 in October last year, but rose to 13 in November, 9 in December, and 11 in January this year.

The Financial Supervisory Service advised those engaging in person-to-person gold deals to carefully verify the counterparty's platform app chat history and ID. It also noted that scammers are often new members because past criminal activity led to account suspensions, so exercise caution when dealing with parties who lack transaction history or have poor buyer reviews.

Be wary if a gold buyer asks for your account number before meeting in person on the pretext of depositing a reservation fee, or asks you to take down the listing before the transaction to prevent a change of heart.

An official at the Financial Supervisory Service said, “Not only gold but also silver and foreign currencies such as the dollar, which currently have high market prices, require caution when traded directly through online platforms,” and added, “In particular, for foreign currency, many cases target leftover cash right after overseas trips during the Lunar New Year holiday, so exercise extra caution.”