Jungkook’s identity stolen in $5.6 million HYBE stock scam

It has been revealed that Jungkook (Jeon Jungkook, photo), a member of BTS currently serving in the military, had tens of billions of won worth of HYBE shares stolen through identity theft, but the shares have since been restored. It is also reported that approximately 100 million won worth of shares that had already been sold to a third party were recovered through a civil lawsuit.

According to BigHit Music, a subsidiary of HYBE and Jungkook’s agency, on Sunday, someone stole 33,500 shares of HYBE stock belonging to Jungkook in January last year, shortly after he enlisted. At the time, the shares were worth approximately 8.3 billion won (about 5.86 million U.S. dollars). The perpetrator, who has yet to be apprehended by the police, is suspected of using Jungkook’s identity to secretly open a securities account and unlawfully transfer his HYBE shares. It was found that 500 of those shares were sold to a third party.

“As soon as we became aware of the crime, we froze the account and took steps to restore the shares,"BigHit Music said. "The amount that had already been transferred to a third party was recovered through a lawsuit.” It was revealed that Jungkook filed a civil suit with the Seoul Western District Court in March last year requesting the return of the shares and received a favorable ruling last month. The court reportedly ruled that since Mr. Jeon was merely a victim of identity theft, the third party who bought the 500 shares must return them.


최원영 o0@donga.com