South Korean Police Shut Down ‘International Crypto Fraud’ Ring, Freeze $1.2m

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South Korean police have shut down an “international crypto fraud” ring operating in the country and have frozen $1.2 million worth of cryptocurrency assets.

The investigation took place in Gyeonggi provincial police force’s jurisdiction of Hwaseong, South Korea. The authorities apprehended suspects aged between 27 and 55.

According to The Korea Herald, the fraudsters purportedly set up a system that is used to trick victims into investing in supposedly noise-specializing and then converted their money into cryptocurrency. The suspects managed to gain at least 3.2 billion won ($2,886,000) in five months before getting caught.

The police issued a statement saying: “We raided nine suspect sites and arrested seven suspects […] The investigation found that the suspects were luring victims by making false promises such as earning up to 20 percent of their investments within one or two weeks of trading in virtual currencies.”

The police also noted that the fraudsters communicated with persons from across the globe, which makes it an international cybercrime. “We are also looking into whether there are any foreign victims among its 400 Korean victims.”

The assets that were frozen are reportedly composed of bitcoin, ethereum, and ripple which were held in various wallets. The police also noted that some of the wallets contained funds which were generated from other cybercrimes such as voice phishing.