Recently, a major personal information leak surfaced in the Korean entertainment industry, with even BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan) member Jungkook almost falling victim. Fortunately, his HYBE company stock account, valued at 8.4 billion KRW (around 22.11 million MYR), remained safe.
With close collaboration between the Korean Ministry of Justice, police, and Interpol, two Chinese ringleaders of the fraud were finally arrested and extradited. Their illegal gains are estimated to reach 38 billion KRW (approximately 100 million MYR), drawing major attention from international financial and cybersecurity circles.
According to comprehensive Korean media reports, the case was led by a 40-year-old Chinese suspect, A, and his university junior, B. Since 2023, the group successively hacked more than 20 Korean government and public agency websites, illegally stealing the personal data—including resident registration numbers—of 258 victims.
The suspects used this data to exploit a loophole with Korea’s budget mobile providers, where prepaid phone numbers can be opened without in-person verification. As most financial services in Korea rely heavily on mobile identity verification, the fraud group easily passed authentication processes, reset banking credentials, and applied for digital certificates, thus taking over victims’ securities accounts and cryptocurrency wallets.
Targeted Those “Unable to Respond Instantly”
Jungkook Became a Target During His Military Service
Jungkook Became a Target During His Military Service
The group’s targets were highly specific, aiming at business leaders, politicians, and well-known celebrities—those with significant assets. Even more cunning, they preferred those currently serving in the military or incarcerated, believing such victims could not monitor phone alerts or account changes in real time. BTS member Jungkook, who began his mandatory military training in January 2024, had about 33,500 shares of HYBE stock illegally accessed during his service.
Fortunately, the relevant financial institutions and management company BigHit Music detected abnormal transactions in time and promptly froze outgoing payments on the account, thus protecting the vast majority of the assets. Although about 500 shares were momentarily sold to a third party, the Seoul District Court later ruled the transaction invalid and ordered the buyer to return the shares.
Source: 中时