Two Chinese Korean men accused of committing the "KT unauthorized micro-payment case" were arrested on the 18th.
On this day, Jeong Jin-woo, the warrant judge in charge at the Ansan branch of the Suwon District Court, held a pre-arrest suspect questioning (substantial warrant review) for A, 48, accused of violating the Information and Communications Network Act and fraud by using a computer or similar device, and B, 44, accused of fraud by using a computer or similar device and violating the Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment, and issued arrest warrants.
Chief Judge Jeong said, "There is a concern that (the two) may flee."
A is suspected of loading illegal small base station equipment into a van from late last month to early this month, hacking the mobile phones of KT users in certain areas of the Seoul metropolitan area, and making micro-payments such as purchasing mobile gift certificates and recharging transit cards. B is understood to have cashed out those micro-payment transactions.
A was arrested at Incheon International Airport on the 16th and is said to have told police during questioning that the crimes were carried out "under the orders of a superior, C, in China." When reporters asked A about the method of the crime as A entered the court for the warrant hearing that morning, A said, "I did as I was told." When asked by reporters, "Whose orders did you receive?" A said, "I don't know. I also just did as I was told."
Earlier, after several victims living around Soha-dong in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province, reported, "Between the early morning hours of the 27th–31st last month, hundreds of thousands of won were withdrawn through micro-payments on our phones without our knowledge," police opened an investigation. After that, multiple reports of similar damage were filed in Geumcheon, Seoul, adjacent to Gwangmyeong, as well as in Bupyeong, Incheon, and in Bucheon and Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province.
As of the 15th, police put the damage at 200 cases totaling about 1.2 billion won. However, KT's own tally is 362 cases totaling about 2.4 billion won, showing a discrepancy.