Celebrity Phone Numbers Are 'Money'... Frequent Threats of "I'll Leak Them If You Don't Pay" [Focus]

Frequent Extortion Demands Threatening to Leak Personal Information
Online Sale of Resident Registration Numbers and Contact Details
Following Victims to Homes, Cars, and Even Airplanes

"Be careful on night streets." A chilling threatening message came, saying they would harm my face. It reminded me of a recent incident where an article was exposed on a far-right community. A wave of fear swept over me, wondering, "How did they get my phone number?" What about actors? Actor A, who starred in a movie released last year, said, "Unfortunately, this is a routine matter for me."

[Image source=Pixabay]

"If payment isn't made, phone numbers will be disclosed"

Threats to celebrities involving the distribution of personal information such as phone numbers and home addresses have become frequent. In the past, there were occasional cases of blackmail using photos, videos, and voice files obtained by hacking mobile phones or cloud storage, but nowadays, demands for money are made by threatening to disclose personal information. Exposure of personal information is fatal for public figures.

Actor A recently received a strange text message demanding money using personal information as leverage. When he looked into it, he found that quite a few actors around him had received similar messages. He appealed, "It's not easy to identify the perpetrator," adding, "Even if this happens, there is no effective way to respond, and since my face is known, I have to be even more cautious."

Actor B, who starred in movies and dramas, chose not to contact strangers for fear of becoming a victim of personal information disclosure threats spreading in the entertainment industry. He said, "Just in case, I regularly change my online passwords and frequently change my smartphone. I also try not to give rides to anyone other than trusted people like family in my personal car."

Singer and musical actor Lee Ji-hoon and his wife Ayane publicly revealed that they had been threatened and responded actively. The conversation messages with the blackmailer that Ayane posted on social networking services (SNS) are as follows.

"If payment is not made by 6 PM today, the phone numbers of your husband and Ayane will be disclosed on various portal sites. I have received payments from several celebrities several times and quietly disappeared, so please think it over and contact me. (I promise only once.) I will wait until 6 PM, and if there is no reply, I will widely spread it during the musical." (Blackmailer)

Some private investigation agencies illegally obtain and sell celebrities' personal information. In January this year, a private investigator operator (48) who installed a tracking device on a male singer's car was sentenced to one year in prison. He was accused of handing over celebrities' personal information to multiple clients. A female fan in her 30s who commissioned this was also sentenced to six months in prison with a two-year probation for violating the Location Information Protection Act and other charges.

China is no exception. On the internet, celebrities' phone numbers and address personal information are sold for as little as 10 yuan (about 1,850 KRW). Chinese actor Wang Yibo took legal action against malicious fans who used his personal information to book flights and spread false schedules. The Chinese government also established the "Regulations on Strengthening the Norms of Online Information of Celebrities."

"Ding dong!" Coming to the house, chasing the private car

Singer Rain (from left), BTS V, Jung Eun-ji [Photo by Yonhap News, Big Hit Music, Yonhap News]

Leakage of celebrities' personal information can escalate into stalking crimes. Ms. C, a woman in her 40s who persistently stalked singer Rain (Jung Ji-hoon) and actress Kim Tae-hee, was sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to complete 40 hours of a stalking treatment program in a trial last January. Ms. C is accused of repeatedly visiting the couple's residence in 2021 and 2022, ringing the doorbell, and following them to places like hair salons.

Singer and actress Jung Eun-ji, formerly of Apink, also suffered from stalking for quite a long time. In January, Judge Lee Yong-je of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 13 sentenced Ms. D, a woman in her 50s charged with violating the Act on the Punishment of Stalking Crimes, to one year in prison with two years probation. She was also ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 KRW, undergo probation, perform 120 hours of community service, and attend 40 hours of lectures on preventing stalking crime recidivism.