Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office Arrests and Indicts Two Main Suspects for Violations of the Information and Communications Network Act
[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Individuals who collected and distributed approximately 1.5 million pieces of personal information through malicious applications and exploited it for operating gambling sites have been brought to trial.
The Cyber Crime Criminal Division of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Hyung-seok) announced on the 24th that A (41) was arrested and indicted on charges of violating the Information and Communications Network Act and the Personal Information Protection Act. The prosecution also arrested and indicted B (46), who co-operated the gambling site, on charges of establishing a gambling space. Additionally, arrest warrants have been issued and wanted notices issued for two accomplices currently residing overseas.
According to the prosecution, around April 2017, they created a malicious app disguised as a legitimate internet broadcasting app and posted it on blogs and social networking services (SNS) to induce installation on mobile phones. This app was designed to automatically send phone numbers stored on the mobile phones to a control server managed by them.
They sold approximately 1.5 million pieces of personal information obtained through the app from January to May 2018. Furthermore, from April of the same year until February of last year, they established illegal gambling sites online where users could play casino games or baccarat, and sent spam messages to phone numbers listed in the personal information.
The prosecution faced difficulties tracking them due to their use of multiple borrowed phones, accounts, and emails overseas, but after over a year of investigation, they identified the criminal acts. A prosecution official urged, "To prevent personal information leakage, it is necessary to always exercise careful attention to avoid installing unverified apps on smartphones and to thoroughly manage security by regularly changing email account passwords."
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