A group that ran an "illegal content hub" that aggregated copyright-infringing sites for movies, drama, and webtoons has been arrested on charges of violating the Copyright Act.
The Gangwon Provincial Police Agency's criminal mobile unit said on the 8th that it arrested eight people, including the ringleader, a 48-year-old identified by the surname A, on charges of violating the Copyright Act and detained four of them.
A and others operated an illegal content hub site that provided access to various illegal sites, including copyright-infringing sites that illegally collected and provided domestic content such as movies, drama, and webtoons offered by terrestrial broadcasters and over-the-top (OTT) platforms, as well as sites offering sexual exploitation materials and pornography, and gambling.
Investigators found they ranked illegal sites similar to Noonoo TV and took in an average of 3 million won per month in ad fees from operators of 32 gambling sites in exchange for posting gambling site banner ads. From Oct. last year to July this year, the money they took reached 5.29 billion won.
Based on intelligence about illegal content sites, police launched an investigation and, through analysis of call records from burner phones and bank accounts opened under borrowed names used in the crimes, arrested members of the group one by one. Two people, including A, who fled overseas were arrested at Incheon Airport through International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) red notices and passport nullification measures.
Choi Hyun-seok, commissioner of the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency, said, "The distribution of illegal content seriously threatens creators' intellectual property rights and can inflict enormous damage across the cultural industry," urging caution.