Home > Entertainment > Television

Actor Jang Dong-ju says phone hack led to months of extortion, massive financial losses

Published: 29 Jan. 2026, 12:19

Actor Jang Dong-ju, left, and an image showing messages Jang received from a hacker [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Actor Jang Dong-ju said Thursday that he endured months of extortion after his mobile phone was hacked, resulting in financial losses totaling tens of millions of dollars.

Jang disclosed the incident in a lengthy post on Instagram, saying an unknown caller first contacted him last summer using a burner phone. The hacker later gained full control of his mobile device and began to threaten him.

“From that day on, I lived in hell without a single break,” Jang wrote, "I could not escape despite repeatedly changing my contact information. I had no choice but to do what the hacker told me."

Jang said the hacker forced him to comply with their demands, pushing him to borrow money by any means possible.

"My family even sold their home to help me raise money," he said. "But the urgent debt created more debt, and the unpaid debt created even more debt that I could not repay. That is how I lost tens of billions of won, left my family in pain and found myself buried in debt."

He said his efforts may have protected the information stored on his phone, but cost him far more.

A hooded man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

“I lost my ordinary life I wanted to protect, the people around me and my family’s happiness,” he wrote. “My efforts to protect my secrets and my lies to borrow money combined to create even more lies. When I finally realized what was happening, I saw that many people had been hurt because of me. No matter how hard I tried to escape, I felt trapped in a swamp I could not get out of.”

He apologized to those affected and asked for forgiveness.

“I sincerely apologize to those who were hurt or suffered because of me,” he wrote. “If you trust me and wait, I will get my life back on track and repay every single won without exception."

Along with the post, Jang shared portions of messages he said the hacker sent, which included threats claiming access to his photos, text messages and call recordings, as well as instructions to install Telegram.

Jang previously alarmed fans last October after posting a black image on Instagram with the brief message “I’m sorry.”

At the time, his agency, Nexus E&M, said it had temporarily lost contact with him but later confirmed his whereabouts, adding that he was not in danger. The agency declined to explain the reason for the apology.

“Several personal issues came together, and I needed time to get myself back on track,” he said. “The delay in communication was entirely my responsibility, and I take full responsibility for it.

"I started acting at the age of 15 and worked nonstop, and I don’t think I properly took care of my physical and mental health."

Jang currently appears in the SBS drama “No Tail to Tell,” which began airing earlier this month.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]