A car rental company owner has been found guilty of blackmailing a 25-year-old girl group member (A) by threatening to expose a black box video showing her being affectionate with a boy group member (C) inside a car.
On October 19, the Incheon District Court’s 14th Criminal Division (Judge Gong Woo-jin) sentenced the defendant, B, to eight months in prison with two years of probation and 120 hours of community service for extortion.
According to court findings, on February 21 of last year, B obtained black box footage from a Staria vehicle rented by A, which captured her engaging in intimate behavior with boy group member C in the back seat.
B then contacted A through WeChat, a Chinese messaging app, sending messages such as: “What were you doing in the back seat yesterday? Don’t you think that was too much?”. B also mentioned C’s group name and continued, “If you don’t admit it, I’ll have no choice. The car cost 47 million won, give me at least half.”
Frightened by the threat, A transferred 20,000 yuan (approx. 3.7 million KRW) at 4:10 p.m. the same day, followed by another 30,000 yuan (approx. 5.6 million KRW) three hours later.
However, B met A two days later in Seoul’s Gwanak District and demanded more money, saying, “That’s recorded in real time, let’s just finish this.”
A, terrified, handed over 500,000 KRW in cash on the spot. In total, A paid approximately 9.79 million KRW to B.
The court stated, “The defendant committed extortion while already under a suspended sentence, which is a clear and serious crime. However, the court took into account that most of the extorted money was returned, and that the defendant admitted the crime and showed remorse.”
The identities of both idols involved have not been publicly disclosed.