South Korean authorities apprehend swindlers involved in a $4.1 million cryptocurrency fraud

A pair of criminals in South Korea have been apprehended by the police for scamming an elderly man out of 5.5 billion South Korean won ($4.1 million) through fraudulent cryptocurrency investments. The Haeundae Police Station in Busan successfully caught two individuals in their 20s and 30s who had deceived the senior citizen and conducted various transactions to steal the funds. According to a local source, the victim was promised significant returns on his cryptocurrency investments between September and December 2022. The scammers claimed that a monthly investment of 1 billion won would result in a 70% profit. The victim fell for the scam and handed over a total of 5.5 billion won across six transactions. The fraudsters then forged balance certificates to provide false evidence of the investments. The victim received fake balance sheets for cryptocurrency investments and real estate contracts during the scam. The fake balance sheet showed a total of 20 billion won in cryptocurrency, even though none of the victim’s funds were actually used for crypto trading. Although the police were able to apprehend the fraudsters, no information has been released regarding the recovery of the stolen funds. In other news, Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs and a prominent figure in the South Korean cryptocurrency industry, has reportedly been released from prison in Montenegro. Kwon was extradited to both the United States and South Korea to face court accusations related to the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in 2022. The decision to release Kwon was made by the Supreme Court Council, which is currently reviewing the extradition request from South Korea. Additionally, four employees of the South Korean crypto exchange Coinone have been indicted for allegedly engaging in illegal activities to make profits exceeding $2.26 million during coin listings from multiple projects.