Controversy is growing online as indiscriminate doxxing and false information at odds with the facts spread over a case in which a franchise café owner in Cheongju filed a complaint against a part-time worker who drank three beverages.
On the 1st, posts containing the personal information of the owners of two cafés where the part-time worker involved in the case had worked were uploaded to multiple online communities and social networking services (SNS).
In particular, internet users launched a "private sanction" campaign, including boycotts and fake orders, targeting owner A, who filed an embezzlement complaint against the part-time worker who took beverages worth 12,800 won.
The problem is that unverified information got mixed in during this process. Among the circulated posts was a claim that "owner A also runs a nearby hangover soup restaurant." But this was a fabricated rumor based on the coincidence that the restaurant owner and owner A share the same real name.
As a result, the hangover soup restaurant, which had nothing to do with the cafés, became the main target of private sanctions. The restaurant was bombarded with more than 30 complaint calls a day, and acts disrupting business, such as placing delivery orders and immediately canceling them, continued.
A photo of the restaurant owner, B, who had been featured in the media in the past for social contribution activities, was even circulated as if it showed the "café owner," and insulting, personal attacks were posted beneath it.
It is known that only after B personally posted an explanatory statement on a portal site were the false posts deleted and the complaint calls subsided.
In an interview with Yonhap News, B said, "Dozens of calls came in every day with either silence or people shouting, asking if I was the café owner, to the point I could not run my business," and added, "I did nothing wrong, but overnight I was branded as someone who did, and I am under severe mental stress."
A legal representative for location C, where the part-time worker spent five months, also said, "A false rumor is spreading online that the C location owner's family includes a high-ranking public official. This is not true."
The part-time worker previously wrote a letter of remorse stating that they had provided free beverages to acquaintances at location C and accrued points, and paid a settlement of 5.5 million won. Afterward, the worker filed a complaint accusing the owner of blackmail and intimidation, saying, "I confessed to a nonexistent crime under coercion and threats." Police, after investigating the case, decided not to refer the complaint for prosecution.