Duo behind $4.1M crypto scam apprehended by South Korean police

Two fraudsters in their 20s and 30s have been apprehended by South Korean police for swindling a senior citizen out of 5.5 billion South Korean won ($4.1 million) through a promise of lucrative cryptocurrency investments. The Haeundae Police Station in Busan, South Korea, disclosed that the scammers deceived the victim between September and December 2022 by guaranteeing a 70% profit on a monthly investment of 1 billion won. As a result, the victim fell prey to the scheme and sent a total of 5.5 billion won through six different transactions to the fraudsters. To establish credibility, the scammers fabricated balance certificates as evidence of investments, presenting the victim with fake balance sheets of crypto investments and real estate contracts. Astonishingly, the fake balance sheet displayed a value of 20 billion won in cryptocurrencies, despite none of the victim’s funds reaching the crypto trading account. Although the police promptly detained the fraudsters, there is currently no information available regarding the recovery of the stolen funds. In a separate incident, it has been reported that Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs, a prominent crypto entrepreneur in South Korea, was released from Montenegro prison on March 23. Kwon faces legal charges related to the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in 2022 and is subject to extradition requests from both the United States and South Korea. The decision to release Kwon reportedly lies with the Council of the Supreme Court, which will review the extradition request from his home country.