FSS-phishing causes 600m won losses on victims

South Korea's financial watchdog said Friday phishing scams via websites posing as the regulator have incurred some 600 million won (US$557,362) in losses on victims since May. According to the data compiled by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), 43 victims were tricked into revealing personal financial information on fake FSS web pages since May 28, when the first of such swindles was reported. While the numbers translate into each victim losing 124.4 million won, the FSS said the actual losses are expected to be greater as the current figures only include cases reported to the institution. The phishing scams allegedly used fake FSS websites to induce victims to type in sensitive personal and financial information for verification purposes. "Asking someone to access certain web pages for security certification is always a phishing attempt," an official from the FSS said, adding that the institution never makes such a request. Meanwhile, the FSS has been making efforts to tackle phishing scams by tightening its financial rules, which include having people use only predesignated computers for daily online transactions above 3 million won. The FSS is also collaborating with the country's police authority to find offenders behind the on-going phishing scams, it added.