"Urgent: Do not open the CNN article titled 'Park Geun-hye Dead'"... When I clicked this message

Warning: Spam messages related to former President Park Geun-hye impersonating police [Seoul Economy]

There is a need for caution as spam messages impersonating police officers containing instructions not to open foreign news articles related to former President Park Geun-hye are spreading again.

 

According to the police and others on the 17th, recently, a message titled "Emergency. Do not open the CNN article titled 'Park Geun-hye is dead'" has been circulating mainly through messengers.

 

The message contained information stating that an email titled "Concerned Korea" related to the Choi Soon-sil incident was being circulated, and that it was an email containing malicious code created yesterday in North Korea.

 

[Seoul Economy]

 

There is a need for caution as spam messages impersonating police officers containing instructions not to open foreign news articles related to former President Park Geun-hye are spreading again.

 

According to the police and others on the 17th, recently, a message titled "Emergency. Do not open the CNN article titled 'Park Geun-hye Dead'" has been circulating mainly through messengers.

 

The message contained information stating that an email titled "Concerned Korea" related to the Choi Soon-sil incident was being circulated, and that it was an email containing malicious code created yesterday in North Korea.

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Furthermore, at the bottom of the message, he also wrote the name of a specific police officer from the Gyeongnam Southern Police Agency, saying, "The moment you open it, your mobile phone will be seized by North Korean hackers. Please help spread the word to those around you."

 

However, this message is a spoof message not officially sent by the police.

 

A similar message has spread in the past. In 2016, a nearly identical message titled "Do Not Open CNN Article About Park Geun-hye Resignation" was circulated.

 

This message was also designed to appear as if it was officially sent by the police, with the name of the police officer written at the bottom, similar to recent messages being circulated.

 

Since then, messages of this kind have occasionally spread. However, it has been several years since the message was circulated, and because the scope of dissemination was broad and the message did not include specific links or the like, it is currently difficult to identify the original disseminator realistically.

 

The police explained that since the message does not contain content that could cause specific harm, they have no immediate plans to launch an investigation to track down the initial distributor.

 

A police official stated, "We considered launching an investigation for defamation related to the act of using a specific police officer’s name without permission during the initial distribution in 2016, but after considering various factors such as the message content, we decided not to proceed with the investigation."

 

However, they stated, "Since there is a concern that this message could cause confusion in the social atmosphere, we will continue to communicate with relevant organizations and focus on preventing its dissemination."

 

Reporter Nam Yoon-jung (yjnam@sedaily.com)