Federal police take down shady reseller network selling “unhackable” mobile phones – channelnews

Several dubious mobile phone resellers, many based in high-crime areas of Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane, are to be cracked down on by the Australian Federal Police after they cracked a supposedly “unhackable” “ghost” mobile network used by criminals.

The resellers who sold the customised devices used to plan murders and drug deals and by criminals in prisons were exposed after police launched an investigation into a 32-year-old mastermind who built a network from his parents’ home in Sydney to sell the devices to criminals through a network of resellers.

Korean national Jay Je Yoon Jung, 32, lived at home with his parents in Western Sydney. He will appear in court later today accused of building the encrypted communications platform “Ghost”, which has been active for nine years and is used by outlaw motorcycle gangs including the Hells Angels, Mongols, Comancheros and Finks, as well as Middle Eastern organised crime gangs, Italian organised crime syndicates and Korean organised crime gangs.

He drives a black, luxury Mercedes, which is worth over $300,000 when new.

It is not yet known which devices will be modified to run the unique OPS software.

The tip to AFP that smartphones used by criminals came from Sydney came from Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency. Europol set up a task force in 2022 to shut down the network.

They alerted the AFP that the network’s operator appeared to be in Sydney.

In order to infiltrate Ghost, the AFP set up Operation Kraken. The technicians had to develop a virus-like program to get it onto the Administrator’s computers.

According to information to be provided to prosecutors, Jung sold the customized devices for approximately $2,350 through a select group of “resellers.”

It is currently believed that 600 devices have been sold to criminals.

AFP officials allege that the resellers are experienced criminals or have insight into the gangs and what they want to buy for their criminal activities.

Apparently the resellers checked new users before selling a Ghost phone.

It is believed that criminals are the only users of the devices.

400 of the Ghost phones were used in Australia, the rest were used by criminals overseas.

More than 700 police officers are currently kicking down the doors of users of the “Ghost” network, with raids planned in Europe and North America, AFP said.

Jay Je Yoon Jung was known as someone who sang a lot of karaoke.

He has since been charged with aiding a criminal organization, dealing in suspected criminal funds in excess of $100,000 and cryptocurrency offenses.

Police allege the man, Jay Je Yoon Jung, is the architect and “administrator” of Ghost, and that his arrest will send the underworld scrambling for a safe haven.

According to AFP agents, he is believed to be the driving force behind criminal gangs that traffic drugs in Australia.

According to police, his current clientele includes nearly 400 domestic companies, including Australian motorcycle gangs, as well as Middle Eastern organised crime groups, Italian crime families and Korean gangs.

Police allege that every time he sent an update, a copy of the messages was sent to the AFP, bringing the total number of messages obtained by police to more than 125,000 in the past six months.

When AFP technical experts found a way to infiltrate the platform in March, they reportedly discovered at least 50 threats to kill or injure people, as well as information about violent crimes, money laundering and drug trafficking.

According to AFP assistant commissioner Kristy Schofield, most of the death threats occurred in Sydney.

Jung’s arrest will have implications for criminal networks in the US, Canada, Italy, Sweden and Ireland.

Ghost boasted of security, describing itself as an “encrypted communications service of the future.”

Importantly, it ran on decentralized networks with post-quantum encryption, which he believed could not be hacked by law enforcement.

Additional layers of security, automatic message deletion, voice disguising, pseudonymous usernames and remote data wiping meant that even seized phones were of little use.

Jung is expected to appear in court in Sydney on Wednesday.

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