Three people were arrested on suspicion of developing and selling a mobile application that monitors texts, calls and locations, which they promoted as an "anti-affair" app in online communities for troubled couples.
According to Busan police, the suspects are facing charges of wiretapping and distributing a malicious app that was developed and sold via their website between January of 2019 and December of 2024.
The website marketed the app for the protection of children, claiming it would help monitor the locations, phone records and general phone use of minors. It did not disclose that phone conversations and text messages were immediately saved on a separate server, which the person who purchased the app could download.
It was promoted via local websites for couples going through divorce as an app that could monitor potential affairs of spouses or romantic partners. The person who purchased the app could secretly install it on a partner's phone and make it untraceable to antivirus software via a special procedure.
Officials believe that around 6,000 people have downloaded the app, and at least two men and 10 women are suspected of illegal activities such as wiretapping other phones. They were found to have monitored the phone calls and text messages of their spouses and romantic partners, some for several years.
The three app developers and website operators are believed to have pocketed a profit of 2.7 billion won ($1.9 million).
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
