IT Technician Jailed for Stealing 220,000 Photos of Female Teachers to Create Deepfakes Across 19 Schools

An IT equipment maintenance worker who stole personal photos and videos from the PCs of female teachers and other school staff in the Busan area over several years to produce and store sexually explicit deepfake materials has been sentenced to prison.

The 7th Criminal Division of the Busan District Court (Presiding Judge Lim Joo-hyuk) sentenced a man in his 30s, identified as A, to three years in prison today (the 21st) after he was indicted on nine charges, including violations of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc., and the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes.

Additionally, the court ordered A to complete a 40-hour sexual violence treatment program and imposed a 10-year employment restriction at institutions related to children, adolescents, and people with disabilities.

A was indicted for extracting 221,921 files, including personal photos and videos, from the PCs of 194 staff members across 19 schools in Busan onto a personal USB drive between July 2021 and September of last year, and subsequently producing 20 deepfake videos.

During the crime period, A also illegally filmed under the skirts of staff members 45 times, and downloaded and stored child and adolescent sexual exploitation materials and illegally filmed content from adult websites.

The total number of videos stored by A, including deepfakes, reached 533.

The total size of the problematic data amounted to 405 GB (gigabytes).

The court stated, "The nature of the crime is very grave as the defendant committed offenses targeting unspecified women, as well as teachers and students at the schools where he worked," adding, "The victims likely suffered extreme mental stress."

"However, we considered the fact that the defendant admitted to all charges and is a first-time offender with no prior criminal record," the court said in explaining the sentencing rationale.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.