Prosecutors indict leader of Telegram sex crime ring

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Published: 12 Feb. 2025, 17:33

Mugshots of Kim Nok-wan, the leader of a Telegram sex crime ring [YONHAP]

Prosecutors on Wednesday indicted the leader of a Telegram-based sex crime ring on charges of sexually exploiting 234 people, including minors, over nearly five years.

Kim Nok-wan, 33, was indicted while under arrest for allegedly organizing and running the online sex crime ring known as "The Vigilantes," accused of sexually assaulting children and teenagers, and producing and distributing sexual exploitation videos, among other charges, according to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office.

The number of victims is believed to more than three times that of the notorious "Baksabang" case of 2019-2020, in which Cho Joo-bin blackmailed 73 individuals into making child and adolescent sexual exploitation video clips that he sold online through encrypted Telegram chat rooms.

Yonhap