Busan police say agencies, reviewers and a software developer used stolen accounts and IP-masking tools to post nearly 29,000 fake reviews for about 700 businesses.
BUSAN — Advertising agency operators who allegedly manipulated Naver search rankings by posting large numbers of fake reviews for restaurants, hotels and hospitals without ever using the services have been caught by police.
Investigators said the group relied on IP-masking software, automated macros and stolen user accounts to generate fraudulent reviews. The IP-masking software changed IP addresses to bypass the portal’s security system while posting large numbers of reviews from multiple accounts at the same location.
A total of 20 people, including executives and employees of advertising agencies, were arrested on charges including violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection and obstruction of business, the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency’s cybercrime investigation unit said Monday.
Among them, a man who allegedly ran the review-writing operation was detained and referred to prosecutors. Four business owners who hired the agencies were also referred without detention on the same charges.
The lead operator and the others posted 28,886 fake positive reviews using stolen accounts between October 2020 and January this year to boost the Naver search rankings of paying clients, police said.
The agencies allegedly collected monthly advertising fees ranging from hundreds of thousands of won to tens of millions of won from about 700 businesses, including restaurants, accommodation providers and hospitals.
To make the reviews appear authentic, the suspects even used customers’ payment receipts.
Some business owners supplied the agencies with receipts left behind by other customers, along with photos of their establishments, so fake reviewers could write posts that appeared to come from genuine visitors, according to the police.
Reviewers who had never visited the businesses left comments such as “The food was delicious,” “The facilities were clean,” and “The staff was friendly.”
The operation involved three separate groups: advertising agencies, review-writing operators and a software developer.
Advertising agencies secured clients such as hospitals and restaurants before passing assignments to the review-writing operators, whose reviewers produced the fake posts. The software developer created and supplied IP-masking software designed to circumvent Naver’s security systems.
The operators purchased stolen online accounts in bulk through Telegram and other channels for 600 to 800 won ($0.40 to $0.54) each. They then used automated macros to identify accounts that were still active before using them to post reviews. Reviewers were paid about 700 to 800 won per fake review, according to police.
Investigators estimate the group generated about 1.9 billion won in criminal proceeds through the scheme. Authorities have secured pre-indictment asset-preservation orders covering about 1.785 billion won in assets belonging to the operation’s de facto manager and nominal CEO.
Police said they notified Naver of the stolen account information uncovered during the investigation. Naver has already placed many of the affected accounts under protection and plans to hide the fraudulent reviews based on the investigation’s outcome.
Police acknowledged that it is difficult for ordinary users to distinguish fake reviews from genuine ones, but said Naver has its own systems in place to detect and prevent such abusive activity.
“We will thoroughly investigate not only the review-manipulation companies but also the advertisers who commissioned them,” a police official said. “We will also recover criminal proceeds through pre-indictment confiscation and asset preservation measures.”
BY KIM MIN-JU [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]
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.
Click Here For The Original Source.
