The Seoul Central District Court convicted the man, identified only by his surname Chun, of fraud and of violating South Korea's Information and Communications Network Act on Aug. 20, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The bench said he had singled out wealthy targets and stripped them of their assets, and that unlike victims of voice phishing scams, these victims lost everything while defenseless and at no fault of their own.

The Korea Herald reported that the court called the case serious enough to shake the foundations of the country's financial system and found Chun had shown little genuine remorse, having argued that another man was the real ringleader without producing an identity investigators could verify.

Ilgan Sports reported that the panel, under presiding judge Park Jun-seok, was ruling at first instance, leaving the sentence open to appeal.

Chun assembled the group overseas, largely in Thailand, and harvested personal data between August 2023 and January 2025, according to Yonhap. Members activated mobile lines with budget carriers in the victims' names, used them to pass identity verification, and drained bank and cryptocurrency accounts.

Counting transfers blocked before the money left, the total involved reached about 64 billion won ($46 million), The Korea Herald reported.

Its account of the case put the head of one of South Korea's 30 largest business groups among the victims, alongside Jungkook and other entertainment figures.

Roughly 8.4 billion won ($6 million) worth of Jungkook's HYBE shares was targeted after his securities account was compromised.

Yonhap reported that the transfer was attempted but that BigHit Music, his agency, spotted the breach and suspended the trades before any money moved.

Hankook Ilbo reported that the ring screened for people unlikely to notice a withdrawal alert quickly, working through company chairmen held in correctional facilities, executives living abroad, and entertainers and athletes on military duty.

Jungkook enlisted in December 2023 and was discharged in June 2025.

Singer Jungkook of BTS performs on NBC’s "Today" show at Rockefeller Center New York City, U.S., Nov. 8, 2023. Photo by Reuters

The accounts the group was able to query held a combined 55.22 trillion won ($39.7 billion), Hankook Ilbo reported.

Police believed the operation's ultimate objective was a single target holding roughly 12 trillion won ($8.6 billion), the paper said.

Seoul police announced the takedown in August 2025 with 18 arrests, among them two Chinese men identified as the ring's leaders.

Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that the group had spent years breaking into the websites of government agencies, banks and telecom carriers to build its database of stolen identities.

The paper put the victim count at 258, including 12 entertainers and influencers, 11 lawyers and civil servants, and six athletes.

Yonhap reported in May that Chun was captured in Bangkok in May 2025 in a joint operation involving Thai police and Interpol, extradited to Incheon on Aug. 22, 2025 and indicted in custody on Sept. 16.

A second alleged ringleader, a 40-year-old Chinese national detained at the same location, was extradited on May 13 after a Thai extradition hearing and faces separate proceedings, the agency reported.