SEOUL, March 3 (UPI) -- South Korea's top lender, Shinhan Bank, says its artificial intelligence-powered ATMs have been successful in reducing the number of phishing scams over the past year.
Shinhan, which introduced the AI-powered ATMs last March, announced Thursday the number of voice phishing incidents was down 38% from the year before.
Once it detects a possible fraud situation -- typically with the customer transferring money while on a call -- the advanced ATM activates a warning that the phishing scam may be in progress. Also, any transactions where the person withdrawing money is wearing sunglasses or a motorcycle helmet triggers a warning to the local branch.
"Of the 5,090 ATMs across the country, we switched more than 3,800 of them to the AI-based system," a Shinhan official told UPI News Korea.
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"Having ascertained that the new system is effective in preventing phone scams, we plan to replace the rest down the road," he said.
Phone scams have been a persistent problem in South Korea, with the scammers often posing as employees of legitimate organizations such as the police and targeting unsuspecting groups, especially seniors.
Tricked into believing that there's a banking problem or that their accounts have been linked to some financial crime, the victims often end up giving up cash or accepting fraudulent offers.
On Monday, Korea's financial regulators, along with the major banks, launched a new task force whose aim is to reduce damages from voice phishing.
Voice phishing has been hard to uproot as the crime rings are often based outside the country.
According to the police, a total of 28,619 phishing cases were detected last year in which victims were tricked into sending cash to the scammers via their bank accounts.
