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

A computer 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 create and store sexually explicit fake videos, known as deepfakes, has been sentenced to prison.

The 7th Criminal Division of the Busan District Court (Presiding Judge Lim Ju-hyeok) 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 of Sexual Crimes.

The court also ordered him 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 on charges of stealing 221,921 files, including personal photos and videos, from the PCs of 194 staff members across 19 schools in the Busan area by saving them to his USB drive between July 2021 and September of last year, and subsequently creating 20 deepfake videos.

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

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

The total storage capacity of the problematic materials reached 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 are believed to have suffered severe psychological distress."

The court further explained the reasoning behind the sentencing, noting, "However, we considered the fact that he has confessed to all the crimes and is a first-time offender with no prior criminal record."
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.