"Poison in the Water Purifier" "You'll Never Catch Me"... Juvenile Taunts and Threatens Police, What Was the Outcome?

Suspect Identified After Three-Month Police Investigation
Identity Theft Discovered Through Messenger App "Discord"
"Swatting": False Reports Lead to Emergency Response Deployments

A juvenile under the age of criminal responsibility who threatened a water purifier rental service company with a terror threat using someone else's identity has been apprehended by the police. On January 8, Yonhap News reported that the Gwangju Police Station in Gyeonggi Province is investigating a teenage middle school student, referred to as "A," as a witness on charges of public intimidation.

On August 29 last year, a report was received that an explosive device had been installed at a high school in Busan, and the fire authorities are conducting a search. Photo by Yonhap News

Student A is accused of posting two terror threats on the bulletin board of Coway, a rental service company, on October 13 last year, stating, "I poisoned the water purifier at Chowol High School in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province." He used the name of Kim, a student at Chowol High School, as the author, thereby stealing Kim's identity. After confirming the terror post, a Coway representative notified Chowol High School, and the police launched an investigation following a report from the school.

The police believe the suspect used the messenger app "Discord" and, after applying various investigative techniques, identified A's personal information after more than three months.

Investigations revealed that A had participated in a Discord chatroom created by high school student "B," who was recently arrested and indicted for repeatedly posting threats about installing explosives at schools and other public facilities.

B posted a total of 13 threats in September and October last year, claiming to have installed explosives at Daein High School in Seo District, Incheon, where he was a student, as well as at middle and high schools and train stations in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, and Asan, South Chungcheong Province. During his crimes, he also mocked the police by posting comments such as, "You can never catch me. If I bypass the VPN (Virtual Private Network) five times, you can't do anything."

At that time, B also stole the identity of Kim from Chowol High School and reportedly encouraged chatroom participants to engage in "swatting" (making false reports) as well. The term "swatting" is derived from the name of the SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team in the United States. Swatting refers to the crime of making false emergency reports to deploy SWAT teams or other emergency response personnel to a specific location.

During police questioning, A stated, "I did it because the person caught by the police in Incheon (B) told me to," and insisted, "Other than the Chowol High School water purifier incident, I have done nothing wrong." The police plan to conduct forensic examinations of A's computer and mobile phone to investigate any additional charges. However, as A is a juvenile between the ages of 10 and 14, the case will be handled as a juvenile protection case.

Suspect in Bomb Threats Against Major Corporations Also a Teenager

Meanwhile, in last month's bomb threat incidents targeting major corporations such as Kakao, all individuals who appeared as post authors claimed to be victims of identity theft, and they identified another teenage suspect, prompting a police investigation.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency announced at a regular briefing on January 5 that, "There are three post authors in this case, excluding the one impersonating the President, and with one more confirmed through related statements, a total of four people are under investigation."

Between December 15 and 23 last year, a total of 11 bomb threat posts targeting companies such as Kakao, Naver, KT, and Samsung Electronics were uploaded to bulletin boards such as the Kakao Customer Service Center. The authors wrote that they were, respectively, a dropout from a high school in Daegu, a current student at a middle school in Gwangju, and simply used the name "○○○," threatening that "explosives have been installed."

The police questioned these three teenagers, but each of them claimed to be victims of identity theft. Furthermore, they reportedly identified another teenager, "C," as the suspect. The police believe that the three alleged victims and C had an online relationship and are currently investigating C's involvement in the case.