Most of the reports came in after police declared a special crackdown on the offenses in August
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South Korean police have received more than 1,000 reports of deepfake sex crimes so far this year. Around 60% of those reports were received after police began its crackdown in late August. On Tuesday, the National Police Agency announced that police had received 1,094 reports of deepfake sex crimes from January to Nov. 30 of this year, and had apprehended 573 suspects. Among the suspects, 463, or 80.8%, were in their teens; 87 were in their 20s, 17 in their 30s, three in their 40s, and three were in their 50s or older. A total of 94 suspects were under 14, the age of criminal liability. While these suspects cannot be the target of criminal prosecution, they can be sentenced by family courts to community service and juvenile detention centers. Starting Aug. 28, the police began a period of intensified crackdown on deepfake crimes, after which point the number of reports sharply increased. Among the reports filed this year, 649 were filed after the police's August crackdown began. According to data released by the National Police Agency, 1.9 reports were received on average each day from Jan. 1 to Aug. 28. In the month after the crackdown began, however, the daily average shot up to 12.7, an increase of nearly sevenfold.By Lee Ji-hye, staff reporterPlease direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]
