Two men who posed as delivery drivers to illegally obtain the home addresses of famous idol singers from SM Entertainment were fined in their first trial.

On the 3rd, Judge Lee Ho Dong of the Seoul Eastern District Court's 3rd Criminal Division sentenced Mr. Park and Mr. Kim to a fine of 3 million KRW (~2,166.82 USD) each for violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.

Mr. Park and Mr. Kim, who were broadcasting together on a social media voice chat platform, were accused of pretending to be delivery drivers in April last year. They contacted idol singers from SM Entertainment to illegally gather their addresses and other personal information.

The investigation revealed that the two met at Mr. Kim's house in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, and used their mobile phones to contact the idol singers. They tricked the victims by saying things like, "A delivery has arrived, but the apartment number is missing," or "The package only says '○○ (product name).' Didn't you order it?" This pretense convinced the victims to provide their addresses.

The victims were identified as three singers from NCT and one singer from EXO.

Judge Lee explained the sentencing, stating, "The defendants conspired to deceive the victims, who are active celebrities and singers, by pretending to be delivery drivers. This deception led the victims to provide their information. The violation of the Information and Communications Network Act has been recognized, and a fine of 3 million KRW is imposed on each of them."

Korean netizens' comments:

"Only 3 million KRW?"

"Why do they live like that?"

"There were three victims from NCT? Omg."

"The law is so lenient on these criminals."

"I guess I can't feel safe about my personal information being leaked... The fine is so little."

"They must be crazy."

"I feel so bad for these idols."

"They should be in jail."

"I thought the criminals would be girls but they were males?"

"This is so crazy."

"They need a harsher punishment."

"They need to sue these two."

"Wow, that is such a sly way to get idol's information."

"Only a fine??"

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