South Korea's financial watchdog said Sunday that it will do its best to root out all kinds of financial scams, including voice phishing, as part of its efforts to beef up consumer protection and restore public trust in the financial industry.
  

The Financial Supervisory Service said it will suspend transactions of unused and borrowed-name bank accounts, or bogus accounts that are widely used for financial frauds, from the latter half of this year.
  

It will also introduce a reward system of up to 1 million won ($915) for reporting such phony accounts.
  

The watchdog will establish an integrated network among local financial institutions to immediately freeze money transfers from victims' accounts to those of the scammers.
  

It is also considering expanding the current latency system in money transactions, under which there is a 10-minute grace period for transfers over 3 million won.
  

"We ask people to stay alert against financial frauds," the FSS said. "The FSS will intensify public relations activities to prevent such scams and frauds."
  

The FSS plan comes as South Korea has been battling financial crimes carried out through telephones with their methods becoming more sophisticated and intelligent.
  

The amount of damage incurred from such financial frauds in South Korea came to 216.5 billion won last year, up from 136.5 billion won in 2013 and 115.4 billion won in 2012, according to the FSS. (Yonhap)