Over 1,400 busted as police go undercover in war on deepfake porn

Korea's National Police Agency announced Monday that 515 undercover investigations into illegal deepfake pornography since September 2021 have resulted in the arrest of 1,415 people.

Officials including Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Kim Bong-sik, far left, and Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, second from left, attend the signing of an agreement on jointly responding to deepfake digital sex crimes at Seoul City Hall on Sept. 10. [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

Korea's National Police Agency announced Monday that 515 undercover investigations into illegal deepfake pornography since September 2021 have resulted in the arrest of 1,415 people.

Among those arrested are teenagers suspected of creating a Telegram chat room and selling approximately 1,380 pieces of deepfake pornography.

The Cyber Investigation Division of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency announced Sunday that it had arrested a total of 27 people, including two individuals aged 18 and 19, on charges of violating the Juvenile Protection Act and selling deepfake pornography videos on Telegram from December last year to July this year.

Twenty people who purchased videos from the teenagers were also arrested, with the purchasers also teenagers. These crimes were uncovered by undercover police investigations, according to the police.

Police conduct undercover investigations under the Juvenile Protection Act to collect evidence and arrest suspects in cases of digital sex crimes against minors.

Broadly speaking, undercover investigations can be divided into two categories.

The first type, nondisclosure investigations, involves police officers collecting relevant evidence and materials without revealing their identities.

In the second type, disguised identity investigations, police officers disguise themselves as sellers or buyers and approach suspects.

Police used nondisclosure investigations to uncover 397 deepfake cases in which 920 people were arrested and 38 detained. Another 118 cases in which 495 were arrested and 56 detained were uncovered through disguised identity investigations.

Of these, crimes involving the sale and distribution of material involving minors accounted for 400 cases or 77.7 percent.

“Undercover investigations are effective in collecting evidence and identifying and arresting suspects in crimes using secure messengers such as Telegram that do not cooperate with investigations,” a police officer said.

Some argue that undercover investigations should be expanded in line with the changing criminal landscape.

Undercover investigations can only be applied to sex crimes against minors, with limits to using it to investigate digital sex crimes against adults. Recent deepfake sex crimes committed on Telegram have involved victims and suspects of all ages, genders and occupations.

“We should consider undercover investigations on Telegram as a sort of patrol in a high-crime area,” said Lee Keun-woo, a professor of law at Gachon University. “The problem cannot be solved simply by trying to understand the situation after receiving reports of damage after the crimes have already happened. It is important to send a message that the investigative agency is watching, so we must actively utilize the undercover investigation system.”

However, there are also concerns that undercover investigations may infringe on the human rights of victims and others during the investigation process.

“To quell controversy over human rights violations, self-regulatory efforts such as coordinating the investigation method or limiting the scope of activities are necessary at higher levels,” said Lee Chang-hyun, professor of law at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies’ Law School.

Currently, undercover investigations are conducted under legal controls. In the case of nondisclosure investigations, prior approval from the head of the investigation department of a superior police precinct is required, and disguised identity investigations require a prosecution request and the court's permission. The police plan to continue identifying cases of illegality and abuse during undercover investigations through on-site inspections.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced Monday that a task force focused on deepfake pornography had been formed to intensively crack down on digital sex crimes since last month. The task force is currently investigating 74 suspects of deepfake crimes.

“We are currently investigating 126 cases and have identified 74 suspects,” said Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Kim Bong-sik during a regular press briefing Monday.

Regarding its internal investigation before opening a potential case against Telegram for aiding and abetting deepfake sexual crimes, a Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency official explained it was "taking necessary measures and conducting international cooperative investigations according to procedures."

BY SHIN HYE-YEON, LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]