"Guaranteed 5% Daily High Returns"... Gang Arrested for Embezzling 300 Million Won Posing as Investment Specialist YouTuber

A video screen uploaded on a YouTube channel operated by a daily worker. [Image source=Gyeongnam Police Agency]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] A group that operated a YouTube channel pretending to be investment experts and induced 11 people to sign up for fake investment sites, swindling about 300 million KRW, was caught by the police.

According to the Gyeongnam Police Agency on the 29th, suspect A opened an investment-related YouTube channel around February 4 this year and posted a video titled "How to earn more than 500,000 KRW a day from home."

They approached victims who contacted them after watching the video through SNS messengers and open chat rooms, inducing them to sign up for fake investment sites and urging members who accessed the site to invest.

Partial capture of a conversation in an open chat room on a certain messenger. [Image source=Gyeongnam Police Agency]

Suspect A deceived victims by saying, "If you deposit funds into the investment site, a professional broker with an account at an overseas cryptocurrency exchange will use the member's funds to conduct arbitrage by selling, buying, and moving wallets," and "You can generate daily profits of 2-5% and earn compound interest."

Hearing that they could earn high returns with compound interest in a short period, the victims deposited investment funds. So far, 11 victims have been confirmed, with damages amounting to about 300 million KRW.

Police investigations revealed that the arrested suspects were senior and junior acquaintances from their hometown.

They exploited the fact that establishing a corporation makes it easier to open and distribute shell accounts under the corporation's name, and falsely submitted and reported documents required for corporate registration, pretending to have invested capital, thereby fraudulently establishing a limited company.

They are also accused of obstructing business by deception, such as creating accounts under the falsely established corporation's name at financial institutions and distributing shell accounts to be used for fraudulent activities.

The provincial police agency arrested three distributors of shell accounts related to the fraud case and detained one 27-year-old male on charges including fraud under Article 347 of the Criminal Act, false entry and use of electronic records under Articles 228(1) and 229, and obstruction of business under Article 314.

The police plan to expand the investigation, tracking and arresting the mastermind and accomplices, and suspect that there may be additional crimes beyond the confirmed charges against the arrested suspects.

A police official warned, "Recently, acts of impersonating investment experts using video platforms and SNS, approaching people by promising high returns, principal guarantees, stock recommendations, and leading investments are very likely to be fraudulent activities," urging caution.

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