SEOUL, April 19 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's messenger phishing scams, involving instant messages, surged last year as the COVID-19 pandemic raised contact-free activities, financial watchdog data showed Tuesday.

Damages from the messenger phishing came in at 99.1 billion won (80 million U.S. dollars) in 2021, up 165.7 percent from the previous year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service.

Phishing refers to a scam in which people are duped into sharing personal financial information via text messages, phone calls or emails to allow fraudsters to access bank accounts.

The messenger phishing damages accounted for 58.9 percent of the total phishing damages of 168.2 billion won (136 million U.S. dollars) in 2021.

The number of victims from phishing scams declined 27.7 percent over the year to 13,204 in 2021.

Those in their 40s and 50s were found to be the most vulnerable to phishing scams, with their damages reaching 87.3 billion won (70.6 million U.S. dollars).

It was followed by those in their 60s or older with 61.4 billion won (49.7 million U.S. dollars) in damages.

Of the total damages, 60.3 billion won (49 million U.S. dollars), or 35.9 percent, was restored for the victims. Enditem

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