Three Arrested for Operating Illegal Sexual Exploitation Website and Making Hundreds of Millions of Won in Ad Revenue

Police have apprehended a group of individuals who operated an illegal sexual exploitation website based overseas, making hundreds of millions of won in profits from gambling banner ads and other sources.

The Cyber Crime Investigation Unit of the South Chungcheong Provincial Police Agency announced that it has arrested three individuals, including a man in his 40s identified as A, the overseas mastermind, and two domestic accomplices, on charges including violations of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes.

A and the others are accused of distributing approximately 20,000 illegal videos using overseas servers starting in May of last year, and generating revenue by posting gambling and prostitution banner ads on the site.

They attracted users by allowing anyone to watch the videos without signing up or undergoing a separate verification process. To evade government access blocks, they even created and operated a separate promotional page that guided users to the latest updated addresses.

Investigators also found that, in order to evade tracking by law enforcement, the accomplices communicated with each other and handled advertising inquiries exclusively via Telegram, receiving advertising payments in virtual assets.

Following some 30 rounds of international cooperation and around 50 search and seizure operations, police identified A, who was staying in Thailand. Through an Interpol Red Notice and other measures, they apprehended A locally in Bangkok and extradited him to South Korea.

Subsequently, the police also apprehended and arrested the domestic accomplices, B in his 30s and C in his 50s. By tracking the flow of virtual asset transactions, the police secured a pre-indictment seizure preservation order for 200 million won in criminal proceeds and requested the suspension of hosting services for the website.

(Photo provided by South Chungcheong Provincial Police Agency, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.