A group suspected of extorting tens of billions of won from more than 250 people after stealing their personal information while hacking into government and public agency websites has been apprehended by the police.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said on Thursday that it arrested 18 people on charges of violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection.

The police plan to refer a Chinese national who led the operation to the prosecution Friday while in detention.

The group is accused of stealing personal information of 258 victims between July 2023 and April 2025, and extorting 39 billion won, or around 28 million U.S. dollars from 16 of the victims.

The suspects are also alleged to have failed an attempt to extort 25 billion won from ten other victims.

The group was able to pocket the money by forging identification cards with the stolen data, activating 118 mobile phones under the victims' names, and breaking into their bank accounts.