Half of Teens Steal IDs to Gain Access to Sites

More than half of Korean teens have used other people’s IDs to gain access to adult or online game sites, a report submitted by the Commission on Youth Protection to opposition lawmaker Kim Chun-jin said yesterday.

The commission surveyed 13,721 middle and high school students in 150 schools nationwide in October and November last year. They were asked if they used others’ social security numbers to sign up for online games. Half (50.6 percent) said yes.

Moreover 53.4 percent who committed ID theft said they used a relative’s ID while 40.9 percent stole IDs from family members.

The survey also found that 3.9 percent used IDs provided by friends and another 3.9 percent used ID generators that churn out fake ID numbers on the Internet. By sex, 64.6 percent of male students used other people’s IDs, far higher than female students (34.8 percent).

gaea@donga.com