- The personal information of about 330 female employees of CJ Group was found to have been traded for cryptocurrency on a Telegram channel.
- The Telegram channel was reportedly traded twice for cryptocurrency through a platform that buys and sells channel ownership.
- CJ filed a complaint alleging a violation of the Personal Information Protection Act, and the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s cybercrime investigation unit is probing the timing of the transactions and the size of the sale proceeds.
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Personal information belonging to female employees at CJ Group was traded for cryptocurrency, according to industry officials.
The data of about 330 female employees at the South Korean conglomerate was leaked through a Telegram channel, industry officials said on May 22. The exposed information included mobile phone numbers, job titles, office phone numbers and photos. The channel, created in 2023, is known to have about 2,800 participants.
Ownership of the channel was traded for cryptocurrency in October 2025 and again in December 2025 through a platform that buys and sells channel ownership, the officials said. The case has raised concerns about secondary crimes such as voice phishing and deepfake abuse.
Some of the leaked information included details that could be viewed on the company’s internal intranet, leading CJ to put more weight on the possibility of an internal leak rather than an external hack. CJ filed a complaint with police on May 19 on allegations of violating South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Act. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s cybercrime investigation unit is investigating the case.
Police are also tracking the operator of the Telegram channel and examining the timing of the transactions and the size of the sale proceeds.
Kim So-yeon, Hankyung.com reporter sue123@hankyung.com