



By Jung Hae-myoung







Police have apprehended a group that ran an illegal database application used by prostitution businesses with 18 million mobile numbers of the "customers."







The operator of the app and a staffer were arrested for collecting the mobile numbers of the customers and distributing them to prostitution businesses, while four others who helped develop the app were booked without physical detention, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Tuesday.







The group collected the phone numbers and made the app named Golden Bell. They offered the charged app with the database to some 2,300 prostitution operators nationwide, gaining 700 million won from December to just recently.







Some of the numbers belonged to police officers, and the group checked them to distinguish whether they were the real customers or undercover officers.







Police found the operator of an internet site "Adult club detective," which said it would help women find out whether their boyfriends or husbands went to adult entertainment establishments, also used the apps.







Gangnam Police Station detained the 36-year-old operator of the website, whose name was withheld, for allegedly using Golden Bell and trading personal information illegally.







Officers suspect the operator also works in the prostitution business, because only managers of the prostitution businesses can download the Golden Bell app after verifying they work there.







The website was especially popular among women who paid 30,000 won ($26) to 50,000 won to find out their used prostitutes. The operator earned 30 million won with 800 cases within a month after it opened in August, according to police.







The operator initially ran the website, but changed to receive clients' requests on Telegram, a chat application that does not leave any messaging records.

