A group suspected of "retaliation-for-hire" crimes, such as throwing filth at a front door or writing insults on walls with lacquer, has been sent to prosecutors while in custody.
Yangcheon Police Station in Seoul on the 2nd referred A, a man in his 40s, and his superior B, a man in his 30s, to prosecutors in custody on charges including violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, trespassing, property damage, and intimidation.
They are suspected of splashing human waste on the front door of an apartment in Siheung, Gyeonggi, on Jan. 1 and of spraying lacquer and scrawling insults in multiple areas.
Jeong, a man in his 30s surnamed Jeong, was the head of the retaliation-for-hire ring and was found to have taken requests from an unspecified number of people via Telegram.
To obtain the personal information needed for the crimes, Jeong allegedly had A get a job under false pretenses as a counselor at a Baemin subcontractor and used personal data queried for purposes outside counseling work to commit the offenses.
While investigating C, a man in his 30s who acted as an enforcer, police detected indications that Baemin customer information was used to verify the addresses of crime targets, expanded the probe, and arrested A, B, Jeong, and others.
C was referred in custody on Jan. 1. Afterward, A, B, and Jeong were sequentially taken into custody from Mar. 26 to 28. Police said Jeong will be referred after additional questioning.