A joint government team consisting of around 50 officials from the prosecution, police, state tax agency and financial authorities launched on Friday, tasked with investigating voice phishing crimes.

At a ceremony to mark its launch, acting prosecutor general Lee One-seok said voice phishing crimes are vicious acts that infringe upon people's livelihoods, pledging to comprehensively confiscate illicit earnings of all perpetrators involved in the process.

Kim Ho-sam, a senior prosecutor at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, will head the new team, overseeing six prosecutors and 25 police officers who have been assigned to the unit.

The government plans to run the team for a year before deciding on the direction of its operation.