Employee Accused of Swapping School PC Parts for Profit Amid Rising Memory Prices

Component Swapping Suspected in Over 200 PCs Across 7 Incheon Schools

An employee of a computer maintenance contractor hired by the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education has been reported to the police after being found to have swapped out school computer memory cards and other components with lower-specification products.

Computer main body. Yonhap News

On March 15, the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education announced that it had recently filed a police report against a former employee of the IT maintenance contractor, identified as Mr. A, on charges of aggravated theft.

The Office of Education stated that it had submitted a complaint after confirming that, earlier this year, Mr. A replaced computer parts—including memory cards and RAM (Random Access Memory)—with lower-grade products at seven schools in Namdong-gu and Bupyeong-gu, Incheon.

So far, education authorities estimate the scale of the damage to involve more than 200 computers, with the value of the stolen components amounting to approximately 70 million won based on parts prices.

It has been reported that Mr. A attempted to profit by reselling the parts after memory prices recently began rising.

Teachers at the affected schools noticed a sudden drop in computer performance and requested an inspection from the contractor. During the check, it was discovered that parts of lower specifications than those originally supplied had been installed.

The contractor in question had formed a consortium with three other companies in March of last year and entered into a unified maintenance contract with the Office of Education.

Under this program, the Office of Education connects contracted companies with schools requiring equipment maintenance, allowing the companies to manage the equipment. After signs of theft emerged, the contractor dismissed Mr. A and has begun efforts to recover the damages.

An official from the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education stated, "We plan to conduct a comprehensive inspection of all 390 schools under maintenance by the consortium that includes this company."

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