The agency has released a stern update against impersonators.
On July 11, SM Entertainment released an official statement through KWANGYA 119. According to the statement, the agency acknowledged the issues regarding impersonators obtaining the private information of EXO and NCT members.
SM addressed the incident in April 2023, which involved certain individuals disguising themselves as delivery drivers and stealing the artists' private information. The agency also shared specific legal action taken against the people who committed these criminal acts.
Read the agency's full statement:
"Hello. This is SM Entertainment.
We would like to inform you of the lawsuit results against the personal information theft of one EXO member and three NCT members.
In April 2023, an incident occurred involving individuals impersonating courier drivers during a live broadcast on X (Twitter). We have collected a large amount of proof through the reports of fans and our self-monitoring.
We have appointed Shin & Kim Law Firm as the plaintiff's representative to file a complaint for violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc.
The accused delivery drivers in the case committed crimes such as stealing the artists' addresses by impersonating a courier during a live broadcast, which contained a huge number of viewers, and broadcasting this information to disclose to the public.
Police authorities have identified four suspects in the live broadcast and sent two of them, who directly called the artists, to the prosecutor's office for indictment.
In the trial held, the defendants admitted to all the crimes and claimed that they committed these crimes out of their love for their artists. The two defendants were fined 3 million won ($2,175.90 USD) each.
We are deeply grateful for the valuable reports from fans who have helped us take legal action against these violations.
To this day, the acts of stealing an artist's phone number or home address without permission to call or visit them have persisted for a long time.
Though the artists have endured these obstacles because they are celebrities, these violations have become too much for them to take and they are suffering from severe mental pain.
We want to reinforce that these acts are not expressions of love towards the artists, but are serious acts of crime that cause psychological harm to them.
Additionally, to protect our artists, we will continue to monitor and take legal action against the mentioned criminal acts, as well as the infringement on our artists' rights and reputation.
We will implement legal procedures with a zero-tolerance principle and await the results of several other lawsuits. We encourage you to stop participating in any acts that lead to the artists' invasion of privacy and involvement in any other unlawful acts.
Thank you."
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Written by Israel Monte
