South Korea launches “Voice Wanted” campaign to combat phone scams
The Korean National Police Agency, in partnership with marketing company Cheil Worldwide Inc., has launched a nationwide public awareness campaign titled Voice Wanted aimed at countering the rapid rise of phone scam crimes in South Korea, reports a Qazinform News Agency correspondent.
According to police data, financial losses from voice phishing in the country have nearly doubled within a year and are expected to exceed 1 trillion won, or about 680 million US dollars, in 2025. Authorities warn that increasingly sophisticated scam tactics continue to drive up the number of victims.
The campaign shifts the focus of investigations from scam methods to perpetrators’ voices. Police note that while criminals can easily change scripts or impersonate officials, a person’s voiceprint remains largely unalterable due to the unique characteristics of vocal cords. Collecting more scam call recordings strengthens voice analysis models, improving both arrest rates and crime prevention.
As part of the initiative, Cheil has produced “wanted posters” based on waveform graphs extracted from real scammer voice samples. By scanning QR codes on the posters, citizens can listen to actual scam cases, learn about new fraud tactics and submit recordings of suspicious calls to police.
Acting Commissioner Yoo Jae-sung of the Korean National Police Agency said the campaign is designed to raise awareness and encourage public participation. “The primary purpose of the Voice Wanted campaign is to inform the public about increasingly sophisticated scam call tactics and to encourage public participation in reporting phone scam criminals’ voices for prevention,” he said. “We expect this campaign to help realize a safe community free from scam calls by engaging all citizens, transcending the boundaries between the private and public sectors.”
A total of 14,000 posters have been distributed nationwide to police stations, banks, government offices and telecommunications companies, while promotional videos are being aired on official police platforms.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that global cryptocurrency scams and fraud are estimated to have cost victims around 17 billion US dollars in 2025, according to a new analysis by blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis.