BTS - JUNGKOOK
The second suspect arrested and extradited to Korea.
The final leader of an international hacking ring that stole the personal data of wealthy Koreans, including BTS member JUNGKOOK and the chairmen of major Korean conglomerates, was extradited from Thailand to Korea, the Ministry of Justice stated this Wednesday.
The ring siphoned 38 billion won (22 million euros) from the victims’ stock and cryptocurrency accounts and attempted to steal billions more from July 2023 to April of last year before financial institutions blocked the transactions.
The suspect was transported to Incheon International Airport from Bangkok this Wednesday morning and is being held in custody, the ministry said. Police plan to interrogate him as a suspect.
The hacking ring had two leaders. The first, identified only by his surname Jeon, was extradited in August of last year and is currently on trial. The two men, who attended the same university, organized the hacking operation while traveling between China and Thailand, and carried out attacks against Korean websites.
The ring hacked six Korean government and public agency websites to obtain the personal data of 258 people, including resident registration numbers and financial and authentication IDs. Victims included corporate executives, lawyers, celebrities, and athletes. The hackers first filtered the list for the wealthiest targets, then narrowed it further by selecting victims who would have difficulty responding quickly to fraud, notably incarcerated individuals or those performing their military service.
To monetize the stolen information, the group exploited a loophole in Korea’s virtual mobile network operators’ system, which allows for remote SIM card activation without in-person verification. The hackers registered SIM cards in the names of 89 victims, then used these phones to pass identity verification checks and empty the stocks and cryptocurrencies from the accounts of 16 victims.
The group also attempted to steal an additional 25 billion won from 10 additional victims, but financial institutions detected and blocked the transactions. The personal information of JUNGKOOK was among the leaked data, and the group nearly seized 8.4 billion won worth of HYBE shares from his account before a financial institution flagged the unusual activity and his agency suspended the transaction.
Police recorded the victims’ complaints and worked with Interpol to arrest 16 members of the ring. Both leaders were apprehended in Thailand in May of last year. Jeon, who was caught red-handed, was sent to Korea in August of last year and is now on trial for 11 counts, notably violations of the Information and Communications Network Act and the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes for fraud.
The second suspect was not caught red-handed and could not be arrested under standard legal procedures, so the Ministry of Justice filed a request for emergency provisional arrest for extradition, which Thailand approved.
The mechanism is used to ensure the custody of a suspect who fled abroad while extradition proceedings are underway, in order to prevent further flight. After following Thailand’s extradition process and receiving final approval from local authorities, he was sent to Korea this Wednesday.
“There are no other accomplices requiring extradition. We will continue to respond firmly to transnational crimes such as hacking and online fraud.”, a Ministry of Justice official stated.
Journalist: Shawn
Translator: Shawn
Source: Korean medias
