South Korean police officers have arrested a group of 28 people suspected of being involved in a crypto investment fraud ring. The arrests were made following a raid conducted by the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency’s Cyber Crime Investigation Unit. Six of the suspects have been detained in custody, while the remaining 22 have been charged without detention. The group is believed to have scammed around 50 victims out of a total of $1.3 million between July and December of the previous year. The group convinced victims to invest in unknown cryptocurrencies that they claimed would be listed on major exchanges and see a significant price increase, but in reality, the coins were worthless and never listed on any exchange.
The individuals in the ring posed as crypto experts and operated a fake trading platform to entice victims into investing. The platform was not registered with the Financial Intelligence Unit, the regulator that governs the South Korean crypto exchange sector. Victims were assured that their investments were safe and that they would see high profits soon. The ring divided its members into a “sales team unit” and a “public relations team” to execute their fraudulent operation. The suspects have been charged with organized crime and other offenses, with police continuing to investigate additional crimes related to the ring.
Recent crackdowns by South Korean police have exposed numerous fake crypto exchanges, with convicted offenders receiving heavy sentences. In a recent case, a fake XRP exchange operator was sentenced to eight years in prison, while the CEO of V Global, a fake crypto exchange that defrauded thousands of victims, was sentenced to 25 years in jail by the Supreme Court in January. The arrests and charges in this latest crypto investment fraud ring case highlight the ongoing efforts of authorities to combat fraudulent activities in the cryptocurrency sector to protect investors from falling victim to scams and fraud schemes. Police are continuing to investigate similar cases and strive to bring more perpetrators to justice to safeguard the integrity of the crypto market in South Korea.
