Voice wanted campaign enlists public to fight scam calls

The Korean National Police Agency and Cheil have launched the Voice wanted campaign to address the sharp rise in phone scam crimes across South Korea, calling on the public to help by reporting recordings of scam callers’ voices.

Phone scam losses in South Korea have almost doubled in a year, with damages exceeding 1 trillion won, or around 680 million US dollars, in 2025. As fraud tactics become more sophisticated, authorities say traditional prevention methods are no longer sufficient to curb the growing number of victims.

Using voices as criminal identifiers

The campaign is built on the idea that a perpetrator’s voice can serve as a reliable identifier, much like a fingerprint. While scam techniques may change, vocal characteristics remain consistent and can be analysed through voiceprint technology.

By collecting more voice samples from reported scam calls, police can strengthen their voice analysis model, improving both identification accuracy and the likelihood of arrest. The Korean National Police Agency and Cheil are therefore encouraging citizens to submit recordings of scam calls as part of a collective prevention effort.

From wanted posters to public reporting

At the centre of the campaign are Voice wanted posters created by Cheil. Instead of faces, the posters feature waveform graphs generated from real scammer voiceprint samples, forming a virtual composite sketch of a suspect.

Each poster includes a QR code that links to examples of scam call cases and information on current fraud tactics. The goal is to raise awareness while prompting people to report scam call recordings directly to the police.

Strengthening prevention through technology

Reported call recordings allow police to extract suspected fraudsters’ voices and compare them against existing criminal voice files. The resulting data can also be shared with telecommunications companies, enabling warning alerts to be issued when a suspected scam call is detected.

As the volume of collected voice samples grows, the strengthened analysis model is expected to help uncover organised scam call networks and link perpetrators to additional crimes.

Yoo Jae-sung, Acting Commissioner of the Korean National Police Agency: “The primary purpose of theVoice 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. We expect this campaign to help realise a safe community free from scam calls by engaging all citizens across both the public and private sectors.”

Nationwide rollout

Cheil has produced the Voice wanted posters alongside a campaign film and educational videos demonstrating real scam call tactics, all accessible through the poster QR codes. A total of 14,000 posters have been distributed nationwide to police stations, government offices, banks, ATMs, and telecommunications companies.

The promotional film will also run on the Korean National Police Agency’s website and social media channels, extending the campaign’s reach and reinforcing its call for public participation.

www.police.go.kr

www.cheil.com

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