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A group that created illegal pornography websites, including child sexual exploitation materials, and lured users to their illegal online gambling sites has been apprehended by the police. Investigations revealed that the amount of money exchanged on the related gambling sites reached 4.7 trillion won.

Reporter Kim Gyu-ri has the details.

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Two operators who attracted members to gambling sites by distributing illegal pornography, including child and adolescent sexual exploitation materials, have been turned over to the prosecution in custody.

According to the investigation, they have been operating illegal gambling sites based in the Philippines since 2019, and even created their own pornography sites to promote the gambling sites and recruit members.

The two pornography distribution sites they operated were the largest in South Korea, featuring over 116,000 illegal sexual videos and more than 2.85 million registered accounts.

The police estimate that a total of about 4.7 trillion won was circulated over the past five years across 18 gambling sites funneled through the pornography sites, yielding illicit gains of approximately 47.6 billion won.

Led by a ringleader who is a vice-leader of an organized crime group, the members divided roles such as site managers and developers. A suspect with a Ph.D. in computer engineering reportedly managed servers and played a role in evading tracking by investigative authorities.

The Cyber Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced that it has transferred a man in his 40s (A), who operated the pornography sites, and a man in his 30s (B), a developer, to the prosecution in custody, and plans to request Interpol Red Notices for the ringleader and others currently staying abroad.

The police have blocked access to the illegal sites, completely shut them down beyond recovery, and initiated procedures to confiscate criminal proceeds, including pre-indictment preservation.

(Video by Kim Heung-ki, Video Editing by Kim Ho-jin)