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| yna@yna.co.kr 2021-08-19 18:24:34
SEOUL, Aug. 19 (Yonhap) -- The upcoming actioner "On the Line," which centers around the issue of voice phishing calls, is preparing to hit theaters soon.
During the press conference for "On the Line" held on Thursday, actors Byun Yo-han and Kim Mu-yeol both revealed that they have received voice phishing calls from strangers who pretended to be their mothers.
The movie follows Seo Joon (Byun Yo-han), who was tricked by a voice phishing organization and lost everything, sneaking into the home base of the organization in China and meeting "Kwak Pro (Kim Mu-yeol)," a voice phishing designer.
Byun said that he thought the scenario was interesting when he first received it, however later received a message from his mother asking him to send two million won. According to Byun, his mother usually uses honorifics when she receives money from the actor, however the text message written in informal language was the clue that saved him from serious damage.
"I knew it was my duty to notify everyone that my family had experienced voice phishing," Byun said. "There are times when I take pride as an actor, and I decided to work on this movie in hopes that more people don't suffer from frauds like this."
Kim, who also received a message from his mother asking for money, said, "It was creepy that these strangers knew something about me to the extent of trying to trick me," adding, "I thought the scenario was too systematic to be realistic, but when I looked into it (voice phishing), there were more detailed ways to conduct this kind of act."
"On the Line," co-directed by film directors, Kim Sun and Kim Gok, who are also brothers, said they wanted to give some sort of catharsis through the film that chases voice phishing crimes that seem impossible to end. In order to raise awareness, the directors also worked hard to systematically reenact organized voice phishing crimes such as preparing scripts according to the situation, casting people who have actually withdraw money from another person's account, and worked with large-scaled call centers and currency exchange offices.
"Voice phishing has evolved into a serious crime," director Kim Sun said. "Anyone can be a target, but it's not easy to catch the criminals. I wanted to at least give the audience the pleasure of hunting down the culprits through the movie." Director Kim Gok also added, "At least in the movie, the audiences can see the voice phishing organizations being destroyed."
Instead of showcasing action movements using advanced techniques, the directors mentioned how they tried to implement more realistic action sequences. Byun, who performs the most action scenes in person without a stunt double said he had no regrets in regards to his action acting. "The point of the movie is to portray action that are likely to happen in reality," director Kim Gok explained.
While the movie ultimately follows the flow of Seo-joon confronting Kwak, the head of the voice phishing organization, it does not only deal with societal problems, but also conveys comfort to the audience.
"On the Line" tells the story of a person who just lost money for his daughter's hospital bills and intermediate payment for an apartment. Actor Kim Hee-won, who plays Lee Kyu-ho, the head of the intelligence crime investigation team, also cited the line "It's not your fault" as the representative line for the film.
Director Kim Gok said, "Voice phishing is a vicious crime that makes people lose everything they have in the most absurd way and then makes the victims feel incredibly guilty. I wanted to at least comfort people's victimized souls through this movie."
"On the Line" will be released next month.
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