93,000 'Cybercrime' Cases Arrested This Year... "Significantly Strengthened Response Capabilities"

Police to Increase Personnel and Promote Installation of Control Tower
Active Expansion of Personal Information Disclosure for Consumers of Sexual Exploitation Materials

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] This year, the police uncovered over 93,000 cases of cybercrime, with 28,000 suspects arrested. The police plan to further strengthen their response capabilities against cybercrimes such as voice phishing, messenger phishing, and other telecommunications financial frauds, as well as cyber fraud and cyberterrorism, which continue to evolve by exploiting advanced technologies.

On the 13th, the National Police Agency’s National Investigation Headquarters announced future plans to combat cybercrime, including establishing dedicated units, expanding recruitment of specialized personnel, intensifying crackdowns by crime type, expanding disclosure of digital sex crime offenders’ identities, and enhancing deletion and blocking of illegal victim videos.

Rapid Increase in Cybercrime... Up 77% in 3 Years

This year, the police strengthened specialized teams under the provincial police agencies, including the Cyber Economic Crime Investigation Team, Cyber Gambling Investigation Team, Cyber Sexual Violence Investigation Team, and Cyberterrorism Investigation Team, conducting large-scale crackdowns. They investigated a total of 93,993 cases and arrested 28,755 suspects, detaining 1,277. By type, cyber fraud and financial crimes accounted for the majority with 87,594 cases (23,407 suspects arrested), followed by cyber gambling with 3,877 cases (3,104 suspects arrested), cyber sexual violence with 1,447 cases (1,625 suspects arrested), and cyberterrorism with 1,075 cases (619 suspects arrested).

With the rapid advancement of IT technology and the advent of a contactless society due to COVID-19, cybercrime is on the rise. The number of cybercrime cases increased by 77.7%, from 131,734 in 2017 to 234,098 last year. The police analyze that cybercrimes exploiting the latest IT technologies such as the dark web and virtual assets are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and cross-border cybercrimes originating overseas are also increasing.

The police plan to systematize crackdowns by analyzing crime methods and trends to eradicate cybercrimes that threaten the everyday economy such as voice phishing, cyber fraud and financial crimes, cyberterrorism that paralyzes national systems, and digital sex crimes that provoke public outrage. They will actively introduce cutting-edge technologies and advanced equipment, including cyberattack source analysis technology and suspicious phone call detection technology for telephone financial fraud. Additionally, they aim to expand international cooperation networks with international organizations, foreign investigative agencies, and global IT companies.

Increasing Personnel and Establishing Separate Dedicated Units

To strengthen cyber investigation capabilities next year, the police plan to increase field personnel by 163 and allocate a budget of 20.8 billion KRW, a 12.6% increase from this year, to support cyber investigations.

They will also initiate organizational restructuring to provide command tailored to crime types. To respond to information and communication network infringement crimes such as cyberterrorism, which require long-term in-depth investigations and international cooperation, the Cyberterrorism Investigation Unit currently operating within the Cyber Investigation Bureau of the National Investigation Headquarters will be upgraded to a division-level 'Cyberterrorism Response Center,' specializing its role as a comprehensive control tower for police cyberterrorism investigations. The Cybercrime Investigation Division, which previously handled all cybercrime investigations, will be reorganized to focus on cyber financial crimes such as phishing, cyber fraud, and digital sex crimes that infringe on public livelihood, enabling swift victim relief.

Furthermore, to respond to increasingly sophisticated crime methods, the police will expand recruitment of over 100 private IT experts annually as dedicated cybercrime investigators, concentrating them on cyberterrorism, cyber sexual violence, and cyber financial crimes. In addition, to secure top-tier talent in the information and communication field (PhDs and technical experts), some recruits will be selected at a higher rank, starting as junior officers (Gyeongwi).

Strengthening Victim Protection and Expanding 'Identity Disclosure'

The police will also advance their self-developed 'Illegal Filming Tracking System' to protect victims. From March to October this year, the police used this system to request deletion and blocking of 9,422 posts and videos. They are further incorporating 'facial recognition' technology into this system to support blocking redistribution and deletion of victim videos. Additionally, by linking the Cybercrime Reporting System (ECRM) with the tracking system, when victims report illegal videos, the linked tracking system will immediately analyze the videos and notify the Korea Communications Standards Commission and victim support organizations, establishing a one-stop reporting system for deletion and blocking.

The police will actively consider disclosing the identities of major digital sex crime offenders. Since the so-called Telegram 'Nth Room' and 'Doctor’s Room' cases last year, the police have disclosed the identities of eight suspects. Those disclosed so far are suspects who operated chat rooms distributing sexual exploitation materials or directly produced and distributed such materials. If disclosure criteria are met and necessity and appropriateness are recognized, the police will actively consider identity disclosure for other offenders as well. A National Police Agency official stated, "We will collaborate with related agencies to strictly respond to cybercrime and devote all efforts to supporting victims."

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