VOICE WANTED
The Face of a Scam Call, Drawn From Its Own Voice
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AI Translation Summary
South Korea's police fought a wave of phone scams by turning the criminal's own voice into a 'Wanted' poster — building a fugitive's face out of the waveform of a real scammer's voiceprint. Because a voiceprint is unique and impossible to disguise, it works as forensic evidence, so the campaign pushed victims to stop hanging up and start secretly recording and reporting the calls. Thousands of voiceprints poured in, letting police match voices to specific offenders and even map entire scam networks. Scam calls fell 20.6% from the year before.
Cultural Context
'Voice phishing' (보이스피싱) — phone fraud in which scammers impersonate banks, prosecutors, or police — is one of South Korea's most damaging crimes, with losses topping 1 trillion won (about $680 million) in 2025. Victims are urged to report through counterscam112.go.kr, the national anti-scam channel.
Entry Information
Summary
In South Korea, scam calls are becoming increasingly sophisticated, with scammers adopting elaborate tactics at an alarming rate. As more people fall victim each year, a vicious cycle has emerged—with losses exceeding 1 trillion won ($680 million) for the first time in 2025. While scamming methods evolve, one thing remains constant: the scammer’s voice. Every individual has a unique, immutable voiceprint—a biometric identifier—making it a crucial piece of forensic evidence. The challenge was: How can we collect as many voiceprints as possible to bring these scammers to justice? The police created a one-of-a-kind “Wanted” poster. Using the waveforms of actual scammers’ voiceprints, the police developed striking forensic-style visual montages to give a face to anonymous crimes.
Strategy
Our strategy was to turn scam attempts into unintended acts of leaving evidence. For that, we needed people to record and report, but victims often failed to identify scams right away or simply hung up immediately upon realization. The "Voice Wanted" posters featuring scammers’ actual waveforms helps the public recognize trending tactics while establishing the scammer’s voice as critical evidence. This led to a behavioral shift from “hanging up” to “recording,” resulting in the collection of extensive voiceprint data from active offenders.
Execution
Posters and campaign videos were deployed nationwide at high-traffic touchpoints for potential victims, including 256 police stations, 620 banks, and 1,887 telecom retailers. High-impact DOOH ads—including extra-large, curved, and four-sided pillar displays—were launched at eight major landmarks in Seoul, such as Myeongdong, Gangnam, and Gwanghwamun. Print ads were run in Korea’s top three economic newspapers and featured in both online and offline magazines. Recognizing the campaign's significance, the government facilitated the display of campaign videos and posters across approximately 7,000 digital media boards nationwide, further encouraging public participation.
Results
A single poster led to the collection of thousands of voiceprints. As the voices of active scammers were reported to the police in real-time, they were able to identify specific criminals through 1:1 and 1:N (one-to-many) voiceprint comparisons, and even track entire criminal networks through N:N (many-to-many) analysis. Furthermore, suspects’ phone numbers were blocked and bank accounts frozen, comprehensively preventing further damage. Scammers were afraid that their voiceprints were being collected. As a result, scam calls decreased by 20.6% compared to the previous year. Media impressions 897M+ Phone scams reported: 11,257 Voiceprints collected: 9,605 Numbers blocked: 27,122 *Dec 18, 2025 (Launch) - Feb 11, 2026 Phone scams reduced: 20.6% *YOY