Police probe online sex crime at Incheon university

Incheon police said Tuesday they are investigating a recent case of pornographic content created using deepfake technology being shared in a mobile group chat, involving an as-yet-unspecified number of college students.

In the case, pornographic images of at least 30 former and current students of the Incheon-based Inha University were created using deepfake technology, and the images were shared in a Telegram group chat. The group chat is said to have operated since 2020, and have about 1,200 members. According to the cyber investigation unit of the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency, members of the chat room also shared the personal information of victims, including phone numbers and student ID numbers.

The incident came to light when one of the victims started getting harassed by strangers who acquired her information via the chat room. She reported the case to police last year, and her school requested a formal investigation in February.

The exact number of victims and the identities of the majority of the participants of the chat room remain unknown.

Police arrested a man in his 30s who distributed a deepfake image through the chat room, but have yet to track down the main culprit behind the crimes. At least two individuals have been identified as members of the chat room, but officials had not yet tracked down other members as of Tuesday.

A similar case involving female college students occurred earlier this year, when graduates of Seoul National University were found to have distributed deepfake pornographic content involving college students and shared them via Telegram chat rooms. At least 61 people were victimized by the incident, 12 of them SNU students, and four are currently under trial for their crimes.

In June, prosecutors requested a 10-year prison term for a 28-year-old suspect in the SNU case. He created hundreds of pieces of fake pornographic content and also illegally filmed lewd content, distributing a total of 1,700 videos through the chat room.