The leader of an international hacking ring that stole personal data from wealthy figures including BTS member Jungkook and corporate chairmen, then siphoned off their stocks and cryptocurrency, was sentenced to 20 years in prison at his first trial. Investigators found that the group profiled targets by the size of their assets in advance and used elaborate methods, including opening budget mobile phone lines under victims' names, to seize about 38 billion won ($27.5 million) in assets.
Targets Chosen by Wealth; Budget Phone Lines Used to Take Over Accounts
According to legal circles on the 20th, the 31st Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Chief Judge Park Jun-seok, sentenced Jeon, a Chinese national, to 20 years in prison on charges including fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and violation of the Information and Communications Network Act.
Investigators found that the organization Jeon belonged to set up a hacking crime group based overseas, including in Thailand, and from August 2023 illegally collected personal, financial and authentication data by hacking government, public and private websites in South Korea.
Using the data they obtained, they opened budget mobile phone lines under victims' names without authorization and intercepted text messages and one-time passwords (OTPs) used for mobile banking. They are then accused of breaking into financial accounts and cryptocurrency exchange accounts or transferring stocks to other accounts, stealing about 38 billion won in assets.
The targets were not chosen at random. The investigation found that the group narrowed down a pool of candidates from the personal data it had obtained by weighing factors such as the size of their assets, then selected them as targets.
The targets included BTS member Jungkook, as well as eight corporate chairmen, chief executives and presidents, one executive, three entertainers and influencers, and three cryptocurrency investors.
Jungkook had 8.4 billion won worth of HYBE (352820.KS) shares stolen, but the theft did not result in an actual financial loss because his agency took measures such as suspending payments immediately after detecting the incident.
Court Calls It a Grave Crime That Shook the Foundation of the Financial System
The court took a serious view of the fact that the victims, despite no particular fault of their own, were placed at risk of losing enormous sums solely through the theft of their personal data.
"They sought out wealthy people as targets and stole their assets," the court said. "Unlike typical voice phishing, the victims lost their assets while defenseless and without any fault of their own."
The court went on to condemn the crime as "a grave offense that shakes not only individual victims but the very foundation of the public financial system."
Jeon claimed there was a separate ringleader above him who was the actual mastermind, but the fact that this individual's existence could not be confirmed was also reflected in the sentencing. The court determined that, in light of this, it was difficult to conclude that Jeon had seriously reflected on his wrongdoing.
Investigators arrested Jeon in Thailand in May last year in cooperation with Interpol. He was then repatriated to South Korea in August that year through international cooperation between the Ministry of Justice and the National Police Agency, and prosecutors indicted him in custody a month later.
