Handwritten Log Report... Restaurant Owner Sends "Let's Be Friends" Text to Customer Like a Daughter

Block text message reception, send KakaoTalk message
Sent to prosecution on suspicion of violating Personal Information Protection Act

A restaurant owner who approached a customer after viewing personal information written in the quarantine log was arrested by the police. The photo is unrelated to specific expressions in the article. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] A restaurant owner who contacted a customer after seeing the phone number written in a handwritten logbook and said, "I want to be friends," was arrested by the police on charges of violating the Personal Information Protection Act.

According to 'SBS' on the 31st of last month, the victim, Mr. A, recently received a text message from an unknown phone number saying, "I want to be good friends."

Mr. A did not respond to the text message. Afterwards, the sender also sent a message via KakaoTalk messenger asking, "Did I make any mistake?" and the next day sent a greeting asking, "Did you get to work well?"

The person who sent the text message was Mr. B, the owner of a restaurant in a shopping mall that Mr. A had visited in July with his two children. It is presumed that Mr. B obtained the phone number by looking at the handwritten logbook Mr. A had filled out at that time.

Message from the restaurant owner to the customer. / Photo by SBS Broadcasting Capture

In an interview with 'SBS,' Mr. A said, "(Mr. B) is older than my father, and I am about the age of his daughter or niece," adding, "He spoke so casually that I was shocked and felt creeped out."

He warned Mr. B that contacting someone using the number written in the logbook is illegal, but Mr. B said, "I just meant it in a good way. Let's be comfortable friends." When Mr. A blocked the text messages, Mr. B persistently continued to contact him via KakaoTalk.

Unable to endure the continuous contact, Mr. A eventually filed a complaint against Mr. B with the police.

Then Mr. B changed his stance, claiming, "Mr. A intentionally approached me and gave me his phone number," and "I only contacted him because I wanted to help Mr. A, who is a working mom."

However, after securing and investigating the text messages exchanged between the two, the police judged that Mr. B's claims were unfounded and booked him on charges including violation of the Personal Information Protection Act, forwarding the case to the prosecution.

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