According to a report submitted Sunday by the country's second-largest mobile carrier to Hwang Jung-ah, a lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party, such cases also occurred in Dongjak and Seocho in southern Seoul and other areas, not just the previously reported locations of Gwangmyeong and Geumcheon in southwestern Seoul and Bupyeong and Incheon in Gyeonggi Province.
Cases of fraudulent mobile payments or petty transactions have risen from around 100 when first revealed on Sept. 4 to approximately 764, with estimated damages reaching more than 204 million Korean won (US$173,000).
The number of subscribers whose personal information may have been leaked or stolen is now believed to be over 20,000, a nearly four-fold increase from the initial estimate of around 5,561.
Experts warn that damages are likely to rise, as KT has so far only counted cases involving breaches of automated response systems (ARS).
Meanwhile, the report also revealed that over 7,000 cases of data breaches have been reported by companies over the past six years, raising alarms over cybersecurity amid a recent spate of hacking attacks.
The number of these cases stood at around 600 in 2020 and 2021, before jumping to about 1,142 in 2022, and has already surged to 1,649 so far this year.
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