Gyeonggi Province Establishes 'Employee Identity Verification System' to Prevent Civil Service Impersonation Crimes

Gyeonggi Province has established an 'Employee Identity Verification System' for Gyeonggi Province Office to protect residents from civil service impersonation crimes and will begin the service starting from the 21st.

Recently, there has been an increase in crimes impersonating civil servants or public institution employees using forged business cards and official documents. The method involves accessing companies that previously conducted transactions with the province and public institutions using publicly disclosed contract information, then demanding advance purchases of goods or advance payments and debt payments.

From last year through September this year, there have been a total of 183 fraud attempts impersonating Gyeonggi Province civil servants, of which 13 cases resulted in actual financial damage. The total damage amounted to 351.7 million won.

Following the issuance of a civil service impersonation fraud advisory in October of last year, the province has established a system that can verify an employee's employment status immediately with a single search, reflecting suggestions from residents.

The service is available through the 'Gyeonggi Province Office Employee Identity Verification' menu under 'About Gyeonggi Province - Organization Chart' on the Gyeonggi Province website (gg.go.kr). By entering the department, name, phone number, and email listed on the business card that needs verification, you can determine whether the employee is actually working at Gyeonggi Province Office.

If any of the entered information does not match Gyeonggi Province's personnel information, a notice stating 'This person is not an employee of Gyeonggi Province Office' appears along with guidance to contact the Gyeonggi Province main number (031-120) in case of suspected impersonation.

Even if the search confirms the person as an active employee, it is advisable to directly call the employee's contact number as provided in the system before proceeding with any transaction.

Seo Ki-cheon, director of the General Affairs Division of Gyeonggi Province, stated, "We have established this system to prevent damage caused by forged business cards and false contact information used by impersonators," and added, "When receiving suspicious calls, please be sure to verify through the employee identity verification system and the Gyeonggi Province call center (031-120) before making any transfers or purchases."

In the event of damage from new-type phishing fraud such as no-show scams involving transactions of goods or services, immediate reporting to 112 or the Integrated Reporting Center for Telecom and Financial Fraud (1394) is required. Subsequently, financial companies can temporarily suspend transactions on suspect accounts for up to 7 business days, and if necessary, through review by the Financial Intelligence Unit and police requests, transaction suspension can be maintained for up to 60 business days.