Who Bought the 'Corona Myeongbu' Database and Why?

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[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] A seller who distributed a total of 7 million cases of a database (DB) containing personal information under the name "Corona List" has been caught by the police, and it is known that there are about 70 people who purchased such DBs from him.

The Chungnam Provincial Police Agency has arrested and is investigating a man in his 20s, Mr. A, who sold the DB, on charges of violating the Personal Information Protection Act.

Mr. A is suspected of creating a false COVID-19 related entry list DB and selling it on the messenger Telegram. In September of last year, he received a DB containing personal information such as names and contact details of unspecified individuals from unidentified persons, then added information such as body temperature to this DB and named it the "Corona List." Afterwards, Mr. A posted sales ads on social networking services (SNS) and sold the DB to buyers who contacted him via Telegram.

It was investigated that Mr. A sold more than 7 million cases of personal information at about 10 to 20 won per case, earning an illicit profit of approximately 42 million won. When the police arrested Mr. A, they seized 145 million won in cash, presumed to be criminal proceeds including this amount.

The police are additionally tracking those who provided personal information to Mr. A as well as the buyers. It is known that about 70 people have purchased personal information from Mr. A so far. Most buyers are presumed to have intended to use the DB for business activities such as loan solicitations or sending spam messages. Mr. A also stated during the police investigation, "I thought it would sell better if I advertised it as a COVID-19 related DB, so I did this."

Meanwhile, Mr. A initially claimed that he produced the DB based on entry list data secretly obtained by hacking government agencies while selling such DBs, but police investigations revealed this was not true.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.