Two men charged for illegally collecting information on brothel users through mobile app

Two men charged with illegally distributing and profiting from a mobile app that shared personal information of sex buyers have been transferred to prosecution, police said Wednesday.

Since March 2023, a mobile app has allowed brothel owners across Korea to secretly track and share the personal information of 4 million men who purchased sex — until police uncovered the system during a November 2023 raid and arrested the operation’s head and his associate.

Officers from the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency found the app while inspecting a prostitution business in Gyeonggi. When they opened it, they saw names, phone numbers, visit histories, sexual preferences and even notes warning of suspected undercover police.

Police later confirmed that more than 2,500 brothel owners had subscribed to the service, using it to exchange and manage data on sex buyers through a centralized network.

The 31-year-old ringleader, based in Cebu, Philippines, launched the app after partnering with a developer — believed to be Chinese. The two allegedly met during the operation of an illegal gambling site. 

The developer had already compiled a database of sex buyers and proposed turning it into a shareable platform. Once installed, the app automatically uploaded contacts from the users’ phones to a central server.

The ringleader brought in a 29-year-old associate to distribute the app discreetly via social media. 

The two charged brothel owners 100,000 won ($72) per month, or discounted rates for longer subscriptions, and collected at least 4.6 billion won in total. Police have filed for a pre-indictment seizure of 2.34 billion won. 

The two hired a criminal money laundering network to help hide the source of their profits and used the funds to purchase luxury watches, foreign cars and, in the ringleader’s case, a two-story villa in Cebu.

Police arrested 12 members of the laundering ring, including two who remained in custody during the course of the investigation.

They tracked more than 50 bank accounts under borrowed names and reviewed footage from over 100 security camera locations to trace cash deliveries and exchanges.

Police plan to investigate brothel owners who used the app for potential charges of prostitution mediation.

“The app is now blocked and no longer accessible,” a police official said. “We are tracking the developer to permanently shut it down, and we will keep strengthening crackdowns on increasingly digitized sex trade operations.”

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.

BY CHOI MO-RAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]