"Something's Off" - Fake Petition Written by ChatGPT Caught Red-Handed

Prosecutor in Charge Suspected of Forgery in Awkward Sentence
First Case of ChatGPT Forgery Detection

A drug offender who created a 'fake petition letter' using Chat GPT and submitted it to the court was caught thanks to a prosecutor's keen eye, who suspected the awkward writing style. This is the first time that a petition letter forged using artificial intelligence technology has been detected by investigative authorities.

A, a drug offender, submitted a petition to the prosecution using ChatGPT.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 7th, Yonhap News reported that the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Trial Division 2 (Chief Prosecutor Kim Haekyung) revealed that Mr. A (32), who submitted a petition letter manipulated with Chat GPT as sentencing material to the prosecution, was indicted on the 1st on charges of forgery of private documents and use of forged private documents.

Mr. A was indicted and tried last year on charges of using methamphetamine twice and possessing temporary narcotics (violation of the Narcotics Control Act). In October last year, he was detained in court based on the court's judgment that there was a risk of evidence destruction and flight due to his courtroom attitude.

Afterwards, Mr. A submitted multiple petition letters in the names of acquaintances and family members, aiming for release on bail. In November last year, he also submitted an additional petition letter in the name of an official from a local government sports association. It contained a request for leniency, stating that Mr. A had engaged in many public interest activities in cooperation with the sports association.

Prosecutor Jeong Kihoon, who was in charge of Mr. A's case, noticed something strange while reviewing the petition letters. The letters did not include any specific details of Mr. A's activities, and the overall writing style was unnatural. The petition letter even contained content unrelated to Mr. A's crimes, such as "Fighting alone under the name of justice even for unpleasant internal party matters that no one else dared to address."

Suspicious of this, the prosecution conducted an investigation targeting the local government sports association and detention center officials to verify the authenticity of the document. As a result, it was revealed that the petition letter was falsely created by an acquaintance at Mr. A's request using Chat GPT.

The acquaintance was found to have input keywords such as '○○ City Sports Association, public interest activities, resolution of internal party primary election issues' into Chat GPT to generate the petition letter. Mr. A had never engaged in public interest activities related to the sports association, and the petitioner named in the letter did not know Mr. A at all. The seal included in the petition letter was confirmed to have been personally stamped by Mr. A. This is the first time a petition letter manipulated by Chat GPT has been detected as submitted in a criminal trial.

Ultimately, Mr. A, who was sentenced to 1 year and 3 months in prison in January this year for charges including methamphetamine use, was brought to trial again on charges of forgery and use of forged private documents.

The prosecution stated, "We will continue to respond strictly to evidence fabrication and forgery crimes abusing generative artificial intelligence technology."

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