Police say he was able to swindle $6,000 from 45 Web sites
A 35-year-old web developer identified as Lee has been arrested for purchasing items below their actual value over the Internet. Lee began his form of online theft after discovering that a hacking program he developed could allow him to enter erroneous prices and the seller would still ship him the goods without confirming the amount paid. Lee first tested his program with an order for a box of diapers. He entered the price as 1,500 won instead of the actual price of 15,000 won, but the Internet shopping mall sent the diapers without confirming the real price, as the information sent by the customer corresponded with that sent by the "payment agency," in this case altered by Lee's hacking program. Lee began to buy relatively cheap things such as cosmetics, medicine, and perfume, paying only about 10 percent of the actual prices. He then moved on to more expensive goods like vacuum cleaners, GPS car navigation modules, PDAs, and computer parts at only a few thousand won each. He also earned millions of won by reselling some of the goods through Internet auction sites. In an attempt to be cautious, Lee usually bought only one item per each online shopping mall, but one Internet site discovered the large gap between the ordering information and the actual price and called the police.The National Police Agency's Cyber Terror Response Center arrested Lee for fleecing 45 Internet shopping malls out of a total of 6 million won over the past one-and-a-half years. Regarding Lee's ability to trick the online sales sites, Jeong Seok-hwa, an official of the center, said that Internet programs related to ordering and payment need to be strengthened. Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
