Cyber Crimes in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Invisible criminals, cyber wreckers

Cub-reporter Lee Yeon-woo

yeony200@naver.com

Nowadays cybercrimes aimed at celebrities are on the rise. Celebrities are suffering from a rise in false information being spread about themselves. People who spread sensational news about celebrities are called 'cyber wreckers'. Just like a wrecking machine goes into action whenever an accident happens, they immediately make videos with malicious intent as a certain issue is being discussed online.

Additionally, they earn money from these videos as many people just click on their videos. The problem is that if the person concerned responds, it starts a vicious circle that escalates the situation. If they respond, the cyber wrecker makes another video of their response. Eventually, she or he denies any involvement. Of course, they are no different from criminals.

One cyber wrecker named PPKKa persistently made videos about Jammy. The content included vicious rumors about Jammy and PPKKa's subscribers went believed the rumors and along with them. Jammy was so distraught by the malicious comments that she begged them to stop claiming. It was causing mental depression. It also affected her mother, who was so depressed that she ended up committing suicide. Not long after, Jammy also died by suicide on January 24, 2022. Despite the two deaths, PPKKa and his subscribers did not show any sign of remorse or introspection. Jammy's death should be considered as a social murder by misogyny. In fact, she was a feminist, but her support for feminism worked against her in misogynistic communities. Malicious trolls bullied her in a wicked way.

Unfortunately, Jammy's case was not a unique case. People can come across cyber bullying and see the victims very easily. Some people claim that cyber wreckers are being punished, but it is far from truth. If they are sent to court for prosecution, they are merely punished with some sort of fine. Even the law is powerless to stop them. However, the online community can prevent these brutal crimes.

First of all, people must consume information in an honest way. Cyber wreckers excite people's desire to watch the videos in order to raise hits.

That way they earn more money. In addition, the root cause of the cyber wrecker movement is social media culture. People have to reflect on themselves consistently and stop consuming their videos. Lately, more and more people are getting their news from YouTube, but people should think carefully about whether a sponsor is credible or not. People should watch the news with a critical perspective. Finally, the government should prepare media literacy education to teach people how to use media in a proactive way.