Police have arrested a group of people who hacked the massager’s mobile phone, stole the personal information of sex buyers, and threatened them to take away hundreds of millions of won.

The cyber investigation department of the Gyeonggi Southern Police Agency said on the 3rd that it has sent five people, including A in his 30s, to custody on charges of organizing criminal groups and violating the Information and Communication Network Act. In addition, a total of 10 people were sent without detention, including five helpers who received and withdrew criminal proceeds from their accounts at their request, and five who provided mobile phones and vehicles to those who fled after the police investigation began.

Mr. A and others are accused of threatening 60 men who bought sex in January-July 2022 to take away 240 million won and steal 200 million won. Chief A purchased a hacking app that could steal customer information such as contact information, messages, and phone calls, and introduced it to prostitution owners as a “commercial program” and had them installed.

Owners intercepted their personal information and business use information through contact information exchanged with sex buyers. Afterwards, A rented an office with four people, including B, a senior and junior relationship in the neighborhood, prepared crime tools such as laptops and cannon phones, and called the sex buyers and said, “I installed a camera in the massage room. I will send the recorded footage to my acquaintances,” he threatened.

It was found that no illegal filming was actually taken. As a result, 36 men who bought sex sent a minimum of 1.5 million won to a maximum of 47 million won per person to an account designated by A and others. He tried to take away about 200 million won from the remaining 24 people, but it was unsuccessful because the remittance was not made.

Their crimes were caught while the police were investigating other cases. The police analyzed the hacking app installed on the owner’s mobile phone and arrested two people, including B, first in August 2023.

The rest of the group had been on the run for about two years with the help of a helper, and A was arrested for other crimes in February this year, and two others, including C, were caught in Gyeongnam and Busan in April and September this year, respectively.

Among them, C committed an additional solo crime in the same way in October last year and March this year while on the run, stealing 36 million won from two people. Most of the money intercepted was spent on entertainment and living expenses, according to the survey.

A police official said, “If the app is installed through a route other than an official app store or website, it can cause serious damage such as voice phishing and financial fraud.”