University Staff Sentenced to Prison for Embezzling Professor's Money to Buy Bitcoin
Summary
- Staff member A was sentenced to 8 months in prison for purchasing cryptocurrency worth approximately 17 million won through student and professor accounts.
- A used account information for work efficiency reasons, but was found guilty based on transfer records and authentication methods.
- The court stated that punishment was inevitable due to the amount of damages and lack of settlement with the victims.
A university staff member who was in charge of managing a professor's account has been sentenced to prison after embezzling nearly 20 million won to purchase cryptocurrency and then falsely claiming that her "personal information was hacked."
On the 14th, Judge Kim Taek-sung of the Chuncheon District Court's Criminal Division 2 announced that he sentenced A (36, female) to 8 months in prison on charges of computer fraud and other offenses.
A, who previously worked in the administration office of a university in Chuncheon, was brought to trial for allegedly using Professor B's digital certificate to access internet banking between March and June 2021, sending a total of about 17 million won to cryptocurrency purchasing agents over 19 transactions and obtaining cryptocurrency.
It was found that A committed the crime while keeping Professor B's digital certificate for work efficiency purposes.
In court, she claimed that "someone stole and hacked my personal information."
However, the court found her guilty based on transfer records, IP addresses at the time of internet banking access, as well as the fact that A's driver's license number, mobile phone number, and name were written in the personal information of the electronic wallet where she received Bitcoin. The court also noted that selfie photos taken by A herself were used as authentication methods.
The indictment also included charges of special intimidation in August 2023, when she threatened her common-law spouse during an argument by holding a weapon and saying, "I'll just kill myself."
Judge Kim stated, "Considering that the amount of damage from computer fraud is not small, and that no settlement has been reached with the victims so far, nor has any substantial recovery of damages been made, punishment commensurate with these facts is inevitable."
However, taking A's situation into consideration, the court did not detain her immediately, giving her one last opportunity for damage recovery and settlement.
Jo Jeongsam, Hankyung.com reporter jsk@hankyung.com
Korea Economic Daily
hankyung@bloomingbit.ioThe Korea Economic Daily Global is a digital media where latest news on Korean companies, industries, and financial markets.
