IT Expert Who Made 7.6 Billion Won Building a Farm Cabin in the Countryside... It Was a 'Sex Work Advertisement'

Conspiracy to Commit Crime After Leaving Computer Company
Partnership with Over 5,400 Sex Trade Businesses
Luxurious Life Enjoyed with Criminal Proceeds

An IT expert who previously worked at a computer programming company was found to have built a farm shack on farmland after resigning and operated an illegal prostitution advertisement site for several years, accumulating about 7.5 billion KRW.

Partnered with prostitution establishments nationwide, earning 7.6 billion KRW in criminal proceeds since 2017

On the 30th, the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency's Vice Investigation Team announced that they arrested and sent to the prosecution three individuals: Mr. A, in his 50s, the mastermind; Mr. B, in his 40s, the site manager and developer; and Mr. C, in his 40s, the fund withdrawal agent, on charges of violating the Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic and the Act on the Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment.

The police also sent two others, one fund withdrawal agent and one who cooperated in the initial site setup, to prosecution without detention.

Mr. A and others are accused of operating an illegal prostitution advertisement site for six years from 2017 until last month, accumulating approximately 7.57 billion KRW in criminal proceeds.

They were found to have partnered with 5,482 prostitution establishments nationwide, receiving 200,000 KRW monthly in advertising fees, thereby generating criminal profits.

The site they operated had about 320,000 registered members and reportedly encouraged site usage by providing discount coupons and free coupons based on activity such as posting articles.

Police investigations revealed that Mr. A and Mr. B met while working at a computer programming company. When the company faced difficulties, they resigned together and conspired to operate the illegal prostitution advertisement site.

They subsequently established one office each in Jung-gu, Seoul, and Yeongcheon, Gyeongbuk, where they opened and operated the site.

Built a farm shack on farmland and used it as an office... Fund management done via 'non-face-to-face method'

The appearance of the farm shed located in Yeongcheon, Gyeongbuk, used by Mr. A as an office.
[Photo by Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency]

In particular, Mr. A is known to have built a farm shack on a remote farmland in Yeongcheon, difficult for ordinary citizens to access, to evade police tracking, and used it as an office.

It was confirmed that he stocked water and food to sustain long-term lodging, and equipped the place with computers, laptops, and external hard drives to carry out the crimes.

They also used overseas server rental companies to avoid server IP tracking and paid a professional money laundering organization a monthly fee of 30 million KRW to withdraw criminal proceeds.

They used 22 corporate-named dummy accounts and conducted transactions of criminal proceeds thoroughly via a 'non-face-to-face method.'

Mr. A informed prostitution establishment owners of dummy bank accounts provided by the money laundering organization. When advertising fees were deposited into these accounts, Mr. C and others, who were withdrawal agents for the criminal proceeds laundering organization, withdrew cash by visiting commercial banks.

When Mr. C and others brought the cash to a shared office, Mr. B collected it and then traveled to Daegu at the beginning of each month to deliver the accumulated criminal proceeds to Mr. A.

Enjoyed luxurious lifestyle with criminal proceeds... Police seized cash and took measures to recover criminal proceeds

The police seized 970 million KRW in criminal proceeds stored in a suitcase at Mr. A's residence.
[Photo by Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency]

While investigating the account of a prostitution establishment caught in a crackdown last July, the police confirmed transaction details with Mr. A's group. After launching the investigation, the police sequentially arrested them and sent them to prosecution on the 8th.

It was found that Mr. A and others used part of the criminal proceeds earned for stock investments, apartment and land purchases, and buying expensive foreign cars, enjoying a luxurious lifestyle.

The police seized about 970 million KRW in cash at Mr. A's residence and 100 million KRW in cash at the office used by Mr. B, totaling 1.07 billion KRW.

Additionally, the police obtained a pre-indictment seizure and confiscation order from the court for the remaining approximately 6.5 billion KRW in criminal proceeds and took recovery measures. Related taxation data will also be reported to the National Tax Service later.

A police official stated, "We will continue to investigate prostitution advertisement activities conducted online and immediately shut down sites upon detection. We urge the public to be cautious as joining and using illegal sites can lead to prosecution for prostitution charges or misuse of personal information in other crimes such as voice phishing."

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