Gang that used Baemin data to carry out revenge attacks for hire sentenced to prison

A gang that stole delivery app customers' home addresses and used them to carry out hired revenge attacks — smearing filth on doorsteps and spray-painting walls — has been sentenced to prison in a first-instance ruling.

Judge Kim Ju-seok of Seoul Southern District Court sentenced the ringleader, identified only by the surname Jeong, to three years in prison Wednesday on charges including violations of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection and the Personal Information Protection Act.

A co-defendant surnamed Yeo received a two-year sentence and was remanded into custody after the court revoked bail. A third defendant, surnamed Lee, who directed the leaking of delivery addresses, received sentences of three months and two years and nine months for offenses committed at different times, totaling three years in prison.

A total of 25 people were victimized in the case. The crimes spanned more than four months, investigators found.

"Delivery addresses are information that people are compelled to entrust to service providers simply to go about their daily lives," the court said. "Protecting that information is the bare minimum required to preserve trust and peace of mind."

The court added that the defendants "turned the homes their victims should have felt safest in into targets for retaliatory acts accessible to any number of unknown individuals," and that "providing the means for private revenge causes grave harm to society, making severe punishment unavoidable."

Lee's defense argued that he had not personally entered any victim's home or thrown filth, and that he was at most an accessory to the charges of trespassing and property damage. The court rejected that argument, finding that Lee had played a substantive role in the crimes.

The court ruled that Lee "tacitly and repeatedly conspired with unidentified individuals and their operatives to commit trespass and property damage, and exercised functional control over the offenses through material contributions." It added that "the fact that he did not personally enter the premises or throw human waste cannot change that conclusion."

The gang recruited clients through Telegram, then dispatched operatives to victims' homes to smear filth on front doors or spray-paint graffiti on walls.

Yeo obtained customer information by taking a job under false pretenses as a customer service agent at a subcontractor for Baemin. The addresses gathered through delivery records were then used to pinpoint the homes of revenge targets.

Police uncovered the use of Baemin customer data while investigating one of the gang's operatives, then expanded their probe to arrest Jeong, Yeo and Lee in turn.

The court factored in settlements reached with some victims when determining sentences. Jeong had reached agreements with 17 of the 25 victims, and Lee with 13; those victims indicated they did not wish to see the defendants punished.