Illegal Wiretapping App Sales Group Arrested
A group that illegally sold an app capable of real-time surveillance of others' mobile phone calls and text messages, earning billions of won in illicit profits, has been arrested by the police.
Customers who purchased this app and actually engaged in illegal wiretapping have also been caught.
On the 22nd, the Busan Police Cyber Crime Investigation Unit announced the arrest of a man in his 50s, referred to as A, the representative of the company selling the illegal wiretapping app, on charges of violating the Communications Privacy Protection Act. Two employees who worked with him were also booked without detention. Additionally, 12 customers who used the app for illegal wiretapping activities were booked without detention for violating the law.
A and his employees are accused of selling a malicious program app that allows secret monitoring of other people's mobile phone calls, text messages, and location information through a self-created website from January 2019 to December last year.
The malicious program app that secretly monitors others' mobile phone calls, text messages, and location information.
They enticed customers by promoting on various online platforms, including YouTube, blogs, and divorce-related cafes, stating that the app could "monitor a spouse or lover's infidelity" and was a "legitimate program for child monitoring with location tracking."
In particular, the group incorporated a feature to hide the app icon to prevent victims from realizing that the app was installed on their phones. They also provided detailed guidance to customers on how to avoid detection by antivirus programs.
The illegal app’s usage rights were sold at a high price of between 1.5 million won and 2 million won for three months, and it was investigated that the criminal proceeds generated by A and his group reached billions of won.
According to police, over 6,000 customers purchased this app over the past five years. Among them, 12 adults aged 30 and above (2 men and 10 women) were confirmed to have committed crimes, including illegal wiretapping.
A's customers secretly installed the app on their spouses' or lovers' phones and illegally monitored phone conversations, text messages, and location information for periods ranging from one month to five years. Notably, the app was designed to store recorded conversations on the company's server, allowing customers to listen to them again anytime.
The police seized 2 million pieces of illegally collected location information and 120,000 recorded conversations and took pre-trial preservation measures for 1.66 billion won of the criminal proceeds. So far, no indications have been found that the information registered on the server has been used for additional crimes.
A police official stated, "Intercepting someone else's phone conversations for any reason is a clear violation of the law," urging individuals to implement strict security management, such as setting lock functions to prevent unauthorized access to their mobile phones.
Currently, the police are conducting additional investigations into the app’s developers and others involved.
Image source: Photo provided by the Busan Police Agency, reference photo for understanding the article / gettyimagesbank
