"Three Suspects in Cryptocurrency Scam Defrauding 42.9 Billion Won, Promising '3% Daily Profit' Sent to Prosecution"

Search and Seizure at Exchange and Intensive Data Analysis
Fraud Ring Manipulating Market Prices Caught
Phrase "Multiply Your Investment Several Times" Indicates High Fraud Risk

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] Three members of a fraud ring who manipulated virtual asset prices to embezzle approximately 40 billion KRW have been arrested and detained.

On the 27th, the Seoul Gangnam Police Station announced that they had sent three suspects to prosecution on the 18th for embezzling investment funds totaling 42.9 billion KRW from 424 people. The main perpetrator, a virtual asset issuer, was detained, while the other two were sent without detention.

They are accused of issuing virtual assets, listing them on exchanges, artificially inflating prices through wash trading and matched orders, and then selling the virtual assets in bulk to secure profits. At the point when the virtual asset prices reached up to 60 times the listing price, they sold all assets at once, earning a total profit of 2.2 billion KRW.

The police conducted three raids on the exchange servers to analyze all transaction records of the assets and also searched the suspects' offices to secure related materials for an intensive investigation.

As a result, it was confirmed that from August 2020 to May of last year, they issued and listed three types of virtual assets and promoted in an online leading chat room they operated that investors could earn a 3% daily return. In the chat room, they concealed their identity as issuers and pretended to be "investment analysts."

Furthermore, through wash trading and matched orders, they raised the asset prices by more than 10%. At specific times, they sold virtual assets to investors in the leading chat room at prices they set and immediately repurchased the assets at prices about 3% higher.

The police stated, "There are many cases where so-called investment leading chat rooms approach investors via text messages or messenger open chat rooms to deceive them and commit fraud. Unless it is a certified investment advisory firm, one should be suspicious, and phrases like 'we will multiply your investment' are highly likely to be scams, so caution is necessary."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.