Last October, a fake staking site that operated for eight days stole 3.4 million XRP from 71 investors. This amount is equivalent to $8.5 million. Seoul police stated that this fraudulent operation deceived investors by impersonating Flare Network and FXRP. The fake site promised investors monthly returns of 1.5% to 1.8%, while claiming that the principal was guaranteed.
Details of the Fraud
The fraud operation tricked investors into withdrawing their XRP from local exchanges and transferring it to wallets controlled by the scammers via offshore platforms. The site shut down on October 23, and the operators disappeared. Police revealed that the scammers spread misinformation on platforms such as portal blogs, online news articles, and Wikipedia, and produced videos using a paid stand-in on YouTube.
Police Investigation and Its Outcomes
Seoul police tracked assets worth a total of 27.3 billion won ($18.8 million) related to the fraud and froze 17.3 billion won. Two individuals linked to the fraud were referred to prosecutors on charges of aggravated fraud. Additionally, another person is being prosecuted on charges of forgery in connection with the fraud. Police issued 54 search and seizure warrants related to the fraud and arrested one suspect who had returned from abroad and was hiding.
South Korean police have announced a zero-tolerance policy against cryptocurrency scams this year and warned investors to verify official sources before sending funds. This is seen as part of increased vigilance and measures against cryptocurrency fraud in South Korea.
