180,000 Members... Group Operating Prostitution Brokerage Website Arrested

Eight operators of an online prostitution brokerage site with over 180,000 members were arrested by the police.

Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency announced on the 3rd that Mr. A was arrested on charges of violating the Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic, and seven accomplices were booked without detention. The police also shut down two prostitution brokerage sites operated by them.

Closed prostitution brokerage site.
[Photo by Daegu Police Agency]

They are suspected of operating prostitution brokerage sites from March 2021 until the end of last year, receiving a monthly advertising fee of 250,000 KRW from prostitution business owners located in Dalseo-gu, Daegu. The police estimated that the amount collected under the name of advertising fees was about 980 million KRW.

It was identified that the brokerage sites they operated had 180,000 members. To avoid crackdowns, Mr. A and others set the IP addresses of the brokerage sites in Tokyo, Japan, and the criminal proceeds were withdrawn while moving around Cheongdo and Gumi in Gyeongbuk Province, and Yeosu in Jeonnam Province.

They also systematically divided tasks by separately employing security workers to defend against DDoS attacks and backlink workers to improve search rankings, committing illegal acts.

A police official said, “Investigations into business owners who paid to advertise their prostitution establishments are ongoing.”

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