[Editor's Pick] One "Hello" Is All It Takes: 55 Million Won Vanishes in an Instant

○ [News Story] "I'll Mutilate Your Child": The Crying Son on the Phone Was Actually... (June 6, 2026)

Kwon Soo-jung (pseudonym), a resident of Seoul, recently received a threatening phone call claiming that her middle school-aged son had been kidnapped. The caller demanded money, claiming he had taken the boy and beaten him because the child had insulted him. Park Mi-jung (pseudonym) received a similar call. Threatened that her child would be physically mutilated if she did not send money, she transferred funds on three separate occasions. She said she could not suspect voice phishing because the caller knew the child's name, age, school, and even the local geography accurately, and most of all, the crying voice on the phone sounded exactly like her son's. However, when the reporting team had the voices analyzed by an expert, it was revealed that the children's voices on the phone were not real, but fake voices created by AI. We have entered an era where fake voices that can deceive even family members can be created from just a few seconds of audio. Last year, the total damage from voice phishing exceeded 1 trillion won for the first time in history.

Reported by Lee Jong-hoon | Written by Kim Da-yeon | Planned by Jung Hyung-taek | Video PD: Ahn Min-shin | Edited by Son Jong-seok | Produced by SBS Digital News

※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.