Police have sought an arrest warrant for a man in his 40s who, after taking advice from the generative artificial intelligence (AI) ChatGPT, broke into a computer parts store and stole high-priced graphics processing units (GPUs).
The Pyeongtaek Police Station in Gyeonggi said on the 25th that it requested an arrest warrant for a person identified as A on suspicion of special theft. A is accused of breaking into a computer parts store in Cheongbuk-eup, Pyeongtaek, at about 5:56 a.m. on the 22nd and fleeing after stealing three boxes of GPUs worth a total of 17 million won.
Using a hammer drill, a tool that drills holes in hard objects, the person broke the entrance door, went inside, and made off with the GPUs.
Police apprehended A one day after the incident, but two of the three stolen GPU boxes had already been disposed of. A sold GPUs worth 7 million won and 2.7 million won for 4.9 million won and 1 million won, respectively, through an online secondhand trading platform.
Police recovered the remaining one box worth 8 million won. While proceeding with the procedure to return the stolen goods to the victim, police are tracking the whereabouts of the stolen property A sold.
As the court conducted a warrant review (substantive examination of the warrant) for A on this day, A claimed to be a victim of an investment fraud in a so-called "leading room" and said a complaint had been filed with police.
The person said, "I committed the crime because I wanted police to investigate the leading room case quickly." The person added, "When I asked ChatGPT, I got the answer that 'if you transfer the stolen money to the account that suffered damage from the leading room, when you are caught as a thief, police will naturally investigate the leading room case together while investigating the theft case.'"
A also claimed to have deposited 5.9 million won in criminal proceeds into the account that suffered losses from the leading room investment fraud.
Police confirmed that A had filed complaints twice, in the past and recently, with a provincial police agency and is officially registered as a fraud victim. Police plan to continue supplementary investigation as soon as a decision is made on whether to detain A.