Amid the rise of transnational crimes such as voice phishing and scam texts, the Korea Customs Service has launched a crackdown on illegal foreign currency transfers and smuggling.

The agency said on Monday that it has formed a 126-member team to track criminal funds and will conduct a three-month operation starting this month.

The initiative will target illegal money transfers, unauthorized cross-border foreign currency transfers and money laundering schemes that exploit trade channels. 

Between 2021 and September of this year, authorities detected the transfer of eleven-point-48 trillion won, or approximately seven-point-nine billion U.S. dollars, in illegal underground remittances.

Notably, virtual assets accounted for nearly ten trillion won, or approximately 83 percent of that total.