Two Chinese-national male suspects in the unauthorized small-amount payment case involving KT were handed over to prosecutors under arrest on the 25th.
The Cyber Investigation Unit of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said it sent Mr. A (48) to the prosecution under arrest on charges including violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection (intrusion) and fraud by using a computer. It also sent his accomplice, Mr. B (44), on charges of fraud by using a computer and violating the Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment.
At about 1:05 p.m. on this day, Mr. A walked out of the holding cell at Suwon Yeongtong Police Station in Gyeonggi, his face covered with a black cap and mask. Reporters asked, "Did you receive the equipment directly from superiors?", "Why did you send the laptop and mobile phone first?", and "Why did you go to China in the middle?", but he did not answer.
Mr. B also did not answer questions such as, "On whose orders and to where did you send the money?", "Did your superiors teach you how to launder money?", and "Did you ever think it was not the right thing to do?"
They each got into two escort vehicles and headed straight to the Ansan Branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office.
Mr. A is suspected of causing hacking damage to KT users by loading an illegal small base station (femtocell) into his car and roaming large apartment complexes in the Seoul metropolitan area, including Gwangmyeong in Gyeonggi and Geumcheon in Seoul, mainly during the early morning hours from the 5th of last month to the 5th of this month. Mr. B is suspected of cashing out the small-amount payments illicitly obtained in this way. Of the total criminal proceeds of about 200 million won, Mr. B sent the remainder to a Chinese account through domestic currency exchange shops, excluding his own share of a little over 10 million won.
The police plan to clarify how the femtocell, the core device used in the crime, operates and its mechanism through verification work with a public-private joint investigation team.