Even if you don’t ever see the face of your scammer, you may well hear their voice. Cheil and the Korean National Police Agency have turned that into a weapon to help solve a massive problem. The amount of money lost to phone scams in South Korea has nearly doubled in just one year. The damage has become a serious problem with losses already exceeding 1 trillion won ($680 million) in 2025. As scam call tactics grow increasingly sophisticated, the number of victims continues to rise.
Their VOICE WANTED campaign is encouraging public reporting of phone fraudsters’ voice samples to help identify and apprehend criminals through advanced voice analysis. Just as fingerprints are unique to each person, voices possess unique characteristics called vocal cords. Therefore, even if scam call methods change, perpetrators can be identified through their voiceprint.
The more voice samples of phone scammers are collected, the more the voice analysis model used to compare them against existing criminal voice files is strengthened, increasing both the arrest rate and the probability of crime prevention.
As the campaign’s centrepiece, Cheil created wanted posters for phone scammers’ voices. Using waveform graphs extracted from actual voiceprint samples of phone scammers, Cheil created a virtual composite sketch for the wanted poster. Scanning the poster’s QR code allows people to view real scam call cases and learn about the latest criminal tactics, while urging them to report scam call recordings to the police.
Police can identify suspects for investigation or arrest by extracting suspected fraudsters’ voices from reported call recordings and conducting voice analysis to compare them with previously secured voice files. This information can also be provided to telecommunications companies, enabling them to send warning alerts when suspected scam calls are made, thereby preventing such crimes.
Then as more voice samples from phone scammers are secured and the voice analysis model is strengthened, it is expected to be useed to uncover scam call crime syndicates, and track down additional crimes committed by the perpetrators.
Acting Korean National Police Agency Commissioner Yoo Jae-sung, stated, “The primary purpose of the VOICE WANTED campaign is to inform the public about increasingly sophisticated scam call tactics and to encourage public participation in reporting phone scam criminals’ voices for prevention.” He added, “We expect this campaign to help realise a safe community free from scam calls by engaging all citizens, transcending the boundaries between the private and public sectors.”
Cheil created the VOICE WANTED poster and a film to promote the campaign, along with videos demonstrating actual scam call tactics that can be viewed by scanning the QR code on the poster. 14,000 copies of the poster were produced and distributed nationwide to police stations, government offices, banks, ATMs, and telecommunications companies. The promotional film will run on the Korean National Police Agency’s website and social channels.
Credits
Client: Korean National Police Agency
Senior Inspector: Woong-Seop Yoon
Senior Superintendent: Chan-Woo Park
Superintendent: Eyng-Gue Moon & Sang-Hyun Park
Director: Kyoungsik Yoon
Inspector: Ho-Jun Moon
Creative Agency: Cheil Korea
Executive Creative Director: Seongphil Hwang
Copywriter: Seungree Kang
Art Director: Taeyul Ko
Production: Junpasang, Bounce Creative
Post Production: Eliot
