Budget phone hacking boss caught

[Anchor]

The leader of the budget phone hacking organization, which we reported on extensively last year, has been captured in Thailand and has been repatriated to South Korea.

They secretly opened budget phone accounts and stole hundreds of billions of won in deposits and virtual assets.

BTS Jungkook and a conglomerate chairman were also victims.

Reporter Shin Ji-soo has the details.

[Report]

A man is seen walking out of the Incheon Airport arrival hall, held by police officers on both arms.

He is Mr. A, a 30-year-old Chinese national and the leader of the hacking organization.

Mr. A hacked multiple sites, including budget phone websites, to extract personal information from victims and bypassed the lax identity verification of budget phones to open mobile phone accounts in the victims' names.

Using the opened budget phones, he accessed the victims' financial and virtual asset accounts through various methods.

It has been investigated that from August 2023, over a period of six months, he stole 38 billion won from victims' deposits and virtual assets in this manner.

Wealthy individuals, including famous celebrities like BTS Jungkook and conglomerate chairmen, fell victim to identity theft and some lost tens of billions of won.

The criminal activities of this hacking organization came to light through KBS's continuous reporting last year.

[KBS News 9/April 29, 2024: "There are cases where budget phones are opened without the victims' knowledge, leading to financial asset losses, which KBS is focusing on."]

The investigative agency, which has been tracking the case, received intelligence in April that Mr. A had entered Thailand and successfully apprehended him locally through cooperative investigations.

The repatriation process was completed four months later.

The police plan to apply for a detention warrant for Mr. A on charges of violating the Information and Communications Network Act soon.

This is KBS News Shin Ji-soo.