South Korean authorities have apprehended two criminals who defrauded an elderly individual of 5.5 billion South Korean won ($4.1 million) by enticing them with lucrative cryptocurrency investments. The Haeundae Police Station in Busan, South Korea, detained two suspects in their 20s and 30s after they deceived the senior citizen through multiple transactions.
According to a local report, the victim was promised substantial returns on their cryptocurrency investments from September 2022 to December 2022. The fraudsters claimed that a monthly investment of 1 billion won would generate a guaranteed profit of 70%. The police quoted the scammers as saying:
“The victim sent a total of 5.5 billion won through six different transactions to the fraudsters, who then produced forged balance certificates to falsely demonstrate the existence of investments.”
During the course of the scam, the victim was presented with counterfeit balance sheets of cryptocurrency investments and real estate contracts. The fake balance sheet showed a value of 20 billion won in cryptocurrencies, even though none of the victim’s 5.5 billion won ever reached the crypto trading account.
While the police have successfully detained the fraudsters, information regarding the recovery of the stolen funds has not yet been disclosed.
In related news, Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs and a notorious figure in the South Korean cryptocurrency industry, was reportedly released from prison in Montenegro on March 23. This occurred amidst extradition requests from both the United States and South Korea. Kwon is currently facing legal charges for his involvement in the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in 2022. Prison director Darko Vukcevic confirmed the release, stating:
“The decision to release Kwon was reportedly made by the Council of the Supreme Court, which will review the extradition request from his home country, South Korea.”
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