Seoul: Police have detained two Chinese nationals accused of making unauthorized mobile payments by hacking users of KT Corp., the country's No. 2 mobile carrier, officials said Wednesday. The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police apprehended two Korean Chinese men, aged 48 and 44, on Tuesday on charges of violating the Information Protection Act and fraud by use of a computer, among others.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the 48-year-old suspect is accused of making small unauthorized mobile payments by hacking KT users' phones. This was achieved by using an illegal micro base station connected to KT's communication network from late August to early October. The second suspect, a 44-year-old Korean Chinese national, is charged with cashing the unauthorized payments.
The first suspect was apprehended at Incheon International Airport upon his arrival in South Korea, while the second suspect was detained in Seoul's Yeongdeungpo district shortly afterward. Authorities have secured the unregistered micro base station used in the scheme but have not yet determined how it was used to extract personal information from KT users and facilitate unauthorized purchases.
Both suspects are ethnic Koreans from China who had been working in South Korea with legal status. Officials found no evidence that the men had worked at KT or any other mobile carriers. Police plan to file an arrest warrant for the suspects after completing the initial investigation.
As of 6 p.m. Friday, a police tally reported 199 cases of unauthorized mobile payments totaling 126 million won (US$91,449). Additionally, the science ministry announced it detected 278 cases of damage amounting to about 170 million won on Wednesday.