7-Year Prison Term Upheld for Operator of Illegal 'Affair Surveillance' Spyware App Generating 3.4 Billion Won

A 7-year prison sentence has been finalized for the operator of a mobile phone monitoring application that generated billions of won by illegally wiretapping phone conversations in real-time and secretly collecting location data.

The Supreme Court's Second Division (Presiding Justice Oh Kyung-mi) recently finalized the lower court's ruling sentencing operator A, who was indicted on charges including violations of the Protection of Communications Secrets Act and the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, to seven years in prison, five years of suspended qualification, and an additional collection of 1.97 billion won.

A and others were put on trial for selling malicious apps capable of illegal wiretapping from January 2019 to November 2024, secretly recording other people's conversations, and collecting and providing personal location data without the consent of the individuals involved.

If an app user secretly installed the file on the target's mobile phone, GPS locations, messages, and phone calls were wiretapped, stored, and recorded in real-time and transmitted to a server, allowing the user to view the information by paying a usage fee.

The installation icon disappeared from the target's mobile phone, making it difficult for the individual to even realize that the app was running.

It was investigated that while they outwardly promoted the software as a "location-tracking app for monitoring children," they used keywords such as "cheating husband" on blogs to promote it as a "program capable of monitoring the affairs of spouses and lovers."

Following a free trial period, the app usage fees were 500,000 won for one month, 1.5 million won for three months, and 2.8 million won for six months.

The number of people who downloaded it reached 6,008.

The number of call files illegally recorded by A and others was approximately 120,000.

In addition, the total revenue they generated by providing illegal location information collection services to 980 app buyers amounted to 3.39 billion won.

The prosecutors indicted them on charges of conspiring with app buyers and violating the Protection of Communications Secrets Act and other laws.

The first trial sentenced A to seven years in prison and five years of suspended qualification, employee B to one year and six months in prison and three years of suspended qualification, and figurehead CEO C to one year and six months in prison with three years of probation.

Appealing the decision, A argued, "I only sold the app, and the buyers did the recording," claiming that joint principal liability with the app buyers was not established.

However, the second trial dismissed A's appeal, stating, "A sequential and implicit conspiracy relationship with the app buyers is recognized, and functional control of the conduct through essential contribution to the crime based thereon is also recognized."

The court noted that the app itself fundamentally provided call recording and playback functions, A and others emphasized wiretapping capabilities in their advertisements, and they made essential contributions to the crime by guiding users on how to install it covertly during consultations.

The second-instance tribunal stated, "This crime severely restricts the privacy and freedom guaranteed by the Constitution, and the culpability is extremely heavy."

A filed another appeal, but the Supreme Court found no errors in this reasoning and dismissed the appeal.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.