Incidents of Illegally Sharing Others' Home Addresses on Random Chat Apps Occur Frequently
Fear of Crimes Such as Sexual Assault and Home Invasion Increases
There have been incidents where individuals use random chat apps to distribute home addresses to unspecified large groups. Someone anonymously posts another person's home address on random chat, which can lead to sexual crimes, prompting calls for strict monitoring and punishment.
Pretending to Be a Woman... Posting Someone Else's Address and Luring Men
Recently, Mr. A, a man in his late 20s, posted a notice on his front door stating, "My address is being stolen on a random chat app." Strangers who had no prior acquaintance saw the address posted on the random chat and came to his house, ringing the doorbell.
In 2020, a similar incident occurred in an apartment complex in Gwangju. Strange men rang the doorbell at Mr. B's house and said, "I got this address through a friend." These men reportedly came after seeing the address posted on the random chat app under 'conditional meetings.'
Random chat apps do not require a separate verification step during registration. As a result, users can provide false information such as name, gender, and age. In this process, random chat users pretend to be women and induce sexual encounters or meetings under 'conditional meetings.' When men receive the address and information and visit, an innocent person is at the location. In this way, random chat apps are used to distribute specific addresses to unspecified men and lure them to those places.
Such cases of address theft can lead to secondary crimes such as rape and trespassing. Additionally, the home addresses and shared entrance door passwords of unrelated citizens, including ordinary households, are being exposed, causing anxiety among neighbors. On random chat apps, not only home addresses but also entrance door passwords are being shared.
Punishments Still Light... Need for Measures Against Personal Information Leakage and Sexual Crimes
There are calls to prevent indiscriminate leakage of others' personal information on random chat apps. Although awareness of digital sexual crimes has increased since the Nth Room case, random chat apps remain a 'blind spot.' Random chat apps are similar to other social networking services (SNS), allowing personal information to spread rapidly.
Currently, personal information includes not only name, resident registration number, address, and phone number but also social and economic status, physical characteristics, education, health, and political tendencies. If personal information is provided to a third party without consent, the offender may face up to five years in prison or a fine of up to 50 million won. Additionally, the distributor can be sued for unauthorized use of personal information and defamation.
In JTBC's 'Case Manager,' lawyer Park Ji-hoon said, "The visitors are a problem, but the biggest problem is the person who steals and discloses the address." He added, "If the chat site is overseas, it might be difficult to track down. If it is a Korean site, you can report it to the police to find out who posted the stolen address."
Low sentencing remains an issue. In 2020, Mr. C in Daejeon created a fake profile on a random chat app as a '45-year-old woman' and posted, "I want to be raped. Looking for a man to role-play." A man in his 30s saw this and went to the address posted by Mr. D, resulting in an unrelated woman being sexually assaulted.
The court sentenced Mr. C, who was charged with instigating trespassing and rape, to 13 years in prison, but acquitted Mr. D, who committed the sexual assault. The court explained the acquittal by stating, "There is insufficient evidence to find guilt as Mr. D believed he was engaging in consensual sex in a role-play scenario, deceived by Mr. C."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
