A KOREAN was arrested for alleged blackmail and extortion, the Bureau of Immigration announced on Monday.

Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. said that Shin Un-sun, 37, was arrested upon the request of the South Korea Embassy in Manila.

“He will be deported to Seoul where the central district court has issued a warrant for his arrest,” David said.

Immigration intelligence chief Maria Antonette Bucasas Mangrobang said Shin was wanted for allegedly hacking into the computer files of a communications company.

Through hacking the company’s file, he was able to download and capture the personal data of more than 40,000 customers of the company.

Mangrobang added that after Shin accumulated the client’s confidential information, he later wrote an electronic mail to all of them informing them of the hacking incident with the threat that their privacy would be violated.

Shin asked the customers to deposit the equivalent of $150,000 each into his three different savings accounts.

However, Mangrobang said that the customers ignored the threat, prompting Shin to blackmail the company instead.

Shin then e-mailed the communications company and demanded for 10-million Korean won in exchange for the confidentiality of the company’s customers’ identities to its competitors.

The company did sent him the money and Shin later on withdrew the 5 million won from an automated teller machine at Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan City. On the same day, October 5, he was arrested by the National Police and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group agents.