Pyramid-Structured Sexual Crime Group Busted: 234 Male and Female Victims Identified
Ringleader Personally Raped 10 Minors, Played Dual Roles
A criminal group involved in sexual violence, who exploited adult men and women as well as child victims through Telegram, has been mass arrested by the police. It has been confirmed that the scale of victims is larger and the duration of the crimes is longer than the so-called 'Doctor's Room case' in the past.
On the 23rd, the Cyber Investigation Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced that they had arrested 14 members of a pyramid-shaped cyber sexual violence criminal group calling themselves a 'vigilante group,' including the 33-year-old ringleader Mr. A (33), who inflicted sadistic sexual exploitation on victims. The youngest member of the group was revealed to be 15 years old.
Among them, the ringleader Mr. A, nicknamed the 'Pastor,' was arrested on the 17th on charges including sexually assaulting ten underage teenage girls.
According to the police, this vigilante group is suspected of committing crimes such as producing and distributing child and adolescent sexual exploitation materials, rape (causing injury) of children and adolescents, threats, coercion, forced molestation, and quasi-rape through Telegram from May 2020 to January of this year. The total number of victims is 234 men and women, of which 159 are teenagers.
The police also identified 73 suspects, including a man in his 30s named Mr. B, who produced and provided deepfake and other fake videos of acquaintances to the vigilante group as a condition for participating in the Telegram chatroom called 'Jiin Neungyok Bang.' Among them, 40 have been arrested. Investigations into the remaining 33 suspects are ongoing. Mr. B, whose charges were found to be serious, was arrested on April 19 last year.
The ringleader Mr. A searched for targets through social networking services (SNS) and lured men interested in producing and distributing deepfake composites of acquaintances. He then obtained personal information of these men and committed crimes by threatening to distribute this information or report it to investigative agencies. He also approached women who expressed sexual curiosity on SNS, obtained their personal information via Telegram, and threatened to distribute it.
Furthermore, to keep not only minors but also adults completely under his control, he monitored every move through 'daily reports every hour' and 'writing reflection letters.' If these rules were broken, he forced sadistic sexual exploitation acts such as nude photography and self-harm as punishment, psychologically dominating the victims for a long period.
Additionally, among the victims whose weaknesses were exploited, those who agreed to cooperate in the crimes were recruited as members, who then brought in other victims, using a 'pyramid-type chain recruitment method.' They sequentially established a hierarchical command system with ranks such as deacon, evangelist, and trainee evangelist. In simple terms, those victims who sympathized with Mr. A became perpetrators themselves.
Mr. A’s crimes did not stop there; he committed inhumane acts by playing dual roles with ten underage female victims, raping (causing injury), and filming these brutal acts. He instructed victims to have sexual relations with other men and even personally went to the scene, hiding his identity as the ringleader while committing sexual crimes. He also forced sexual abuse among members who did not follow orders.
The police began investigating on December 31, 2023, following victim reports, confirmed the organized nature of the crimes, and conducted a 392-day investigation. Utilizing about 200 search warrants, international cooperation investigations, and various investigative techniques, they dismantled the organization and obtained an arrest warrant, arresting Mr. A on the 15th. Although Mr. A initially refused to testify upon arrest, he eventually confessed to the crimes after being confronted with evidence.
Moreover, in this investigation, Telegram’s cooperation in providing crime-related data had a decisive impact on the arrest of the suspects. A police official explained, "This case is the first instance of receiving crime-related data from Telegram."
Meanwhile, the police plan to transfer Mr. A to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office around 8 a.m. on the 24th.
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