Damages from phishing scams jumped on-year in 2023 despite growing awareness of the crime, data showed.

Damages from phishing crimes came to 196.5 billion won ($147.8 million) last year, up 35.4 percent from 145.1 billion won in 2022, according to the data from the Financial Supervisory Service.

The number of people who fell victim to the crime dropped 10.2 percent to 11,503 from 12,816 over the cited period.

Phishing is a crime where victims are conned into transferring money to scammers or sharing their personal information, thus allowing fraudsters to access their bank accounts.

The FSS data also showed that the number of people suffering more than 100 million won in damages jumped nearly 70 percent on-year to 95 last year, with the number of victims who suffered 10 million won or more in damages also surging 29.3 percent to 1,053. (Yonhap)