Automatic call recording and location transmission... 6,000 downloads
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Mi-ryeong = A seven-year prison sentence was confirmed for an operator who made billions of won by selling a mobile phone surveillance application (app) that intercepts phone calls in real time and secretly collects location information.
According to the legal community on the 4th, the 2nd Division of the Supreme Court (Chief Justice Oh Gyeong-mi) recently confirmed the original trial verdict that sentenced Mr. A, the operator of a mobile phone monitoring app sales company, to 7 years in prison, 5 years of suspension, and a fine of 1.97 billion won, who was handed over to trial on charges of violation of the Communications Secrets Protection Act and violation of the Information and Communications Network Act.
Mr. A and others were brought to trial on charges of selling a malicious app capable of illegal wiretapping from January 2019 to November 2024, secretly recording other people's conversations, and collecting and providing personal location information without the parties' consent.
When an app user secretly installs a file on the monitored person's cell phone, the GPS location, messages, and call content are intercepted, stored, and recorded in real time and transmitted to the server, and the user can view the information by paying a fee.
The installation icon disappeared from the monitored person's cell phone, making it difficult for the person involved to even notice that the app was running.
On the outside, they promoted it as a 'location tracking app for monitoring children,' but on blogs, it was found that they used keywords such as 'cheating husband' to promote it as a 'program that can monitor the infidelity of a spouse or lover.'
After the free trial period, the app usage fee was 500,000 won for 1 month, 1.5 million won for 3 months, and 2.8 million won for 6 months.
The number of people who downloaded it reached 6,008.
The number of call files illegally recorded by Mr. A and others was approximately 120,000.
Additionally, the total revenue they earned from providing illegal location information collection services to 980 app buyers was 3.39 billion won.
The prosecution brought them to trial, claiming that they had colluded with app buyers and violated the Communications Secrets Protection Act.
The first trial sentenced Mr. A to 7 years in prison and 5 years of suspension of qualifications, employee B to 1 year and 6 months in prison and 3 years of suspension of qualifications, and Mr. C, the owner of the company, to 1 year and 6 months in prison and 3 years of probation.
In his appeal, Mr. A argued that joint criminal activity with app purchasers was not established, saying, "I only sold the app, but the purchasers made the recording."
However, the second trial dismissed Mr. A's appeal, saying, "The sequential and implicit collusion relationship with app purchasers is recognized, and functional control of behavior through essential contribution to the crime based on it is also recognized."
The app itself basically provides call recording and playback functions, and Mr. A and others emphasized the wiretapping function in their advertisements, and made an essential contribution to crime by providing instructions on how to secretly install it during the consultation process.
The second trial court said, “The guilt is very serious as it is a crime that imposes serious restrictions on the privacy and freedom of privacy guaranteed by the Constitution.”
Mr. A appealed again, but the Supreme Court found no error in this judgment and dismissed the appeal.
