"With This App, You Can Monitor a Spouse's Infidelity"... Gang Caught Earning 2.7 Billion Won from Illegal App Sales

App Group Selling Illegal Phone Tapping Service Busted
Head of Company Arrested, 12 Customers Booked for Secretly Monitoring Spouses

A group that promoted an app as being able to "monitor a spouse's or lover's infidelity" by eavesdropping on real-time phone calls and text messages, and earned tens of millions of won in profits by selling it, has been apprehended by the police.

On July 22, the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency's Cyber Crime Investigation Unit announced that it had arrested a man in his 50s, identified as A, the head of the related company, on charges of violating the Protection of Communications Secrets Act. Two employees, B, who was in charge of publicity, and C, the server administrator, were booked without detention. The police also booked 12 customers who used the app for illegal eavesdropping without detention, on suspicion of violating the Protection of Communications Secrets Act.

A group that sold an app capable of "monitoring a spouse's or lover's infidelity" by eavesdropping on real-time phone calls and text messages, earning tens of millions of won in profits, was caught by the police. Photo by Pixabay

A and others are accused of selling a malicious app capable of accessing phone call and text message content, as well as real-time location information, through their own website from January 2019 to December of last year. They sold access to the app for between 1.5 million and 2 million won for a three-month period.

According to the police, there were a total of about 6,000 customers over five years. Among them, 12 adult customers, all in their 30s or older, were found to have actually committed criminal acts such as illegal eavesdropping. Of these, 2 were men and 10 were women.

While A and others promoted the app on their website as a "location-tracking app for monitoring children" and a "legal program," they attracted customers through YouTube, blogs, and divorce lawsuit forums by advertising that it could "monitor a spouse's or lover's infidelity."

They designed the app so that the icon would not be visible, making it difficult for victims to know the app had been installed on their phones. They also instructed customers on how to install the app so that it would not be detected by antivirus software.

Thanks to this meticulousness, A's customers were able to secretly install the app on their spouse's or lover's phones and illegally monitor call content, text messages, and location information for periods ranging from as short as one month to as long as five years. In addition, call recordings were stored on the company's server, allowing users to download and listen to them at any time.

A police official stated, "After seizing and analyzing the company's server, we have so far confirmed 12 customers with evidence of illegal eavesdropping," and added, "There is no indication that the information registered on the server was used for additional crimes."

The police confiscated 2 million pieces of illegally collected location data and 120,000 call recording files from A's group, and seized 1.66 billion won of criminal proceeds prior to indictment. The police are conducting further investigations into the app developers and others involved. A police official emphasized, "Wiretapping another person's phone calls for any reason is clearly illegal," and advised, "People should thoroughly manage security, such as by setting lock functions to prevent others from accessing their phones."