"Send Money to This Account to Get Readings"... Warning on Investment Scams Using Fake Virtual Asset Exchanges

원본보기 아이콘

# Mr. A had previously suffered significant losses in a stock leading chat room. When the price of Bitcoin surged from 56.67 million KRW at the end of last year to 99.07 million KRW recently (March 18), Mr. A, recalling his lost investment funds, started investing in cryptocurrency again.

One day, Mr. B, the operator of the leading chat room, lured Mr. A into a cryptocurrency investment room (Telegram), promising to recover his losses. Upon entering the chat room, numerous participants, presumed to be shills, verified their cryptocurrency profits with photos.

Mr. A expressed his desire to receive cryptocurrency investment leads. Then, Mr. B told Mr. A that to receive investment leads, he needed to use a specific trading site, signed him up, and had him deposit funds into a designated account.

At first, the amount Mr. A deposited was reflected as cryptocurrency purchase records on the site’s screen, but after increasing his investment to tens of millions of KRW and attempting to withdraw, the withdrawal was denied. Flustered, Mr. A protested to Mr. B but was forcibly removed from the investment room.

원본보기 아이콘

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) issued a consumer alert on the 20th, stating that investment fraud through fake virtual asset exchanges like these cases is occurring frequently.

According to the FSS, in addition to inviting people to investment rooms such as coin leading chat rooms to induce sign-ups on specific sites, other common fraud routes include foreigners contacting victims via SNS or dating apps to build rapport and then having them sign up on overseas trading sites, and impersonating well-known overseas virtual asset exchanges.

These fake exchange scams typically start by encouraging small investments to show profits, then after large sums are deposited, suddenly refuse withdrawals and embezzle the funds.

To avoid falling victim to such scams, consumers should verify whether the virtual asset exchange is registered under domestic law with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) before using it.

It is advisable to be suspicious of investment solicitations through online investment rooms or SNS, and to avoid making large transfers when using unverified private exchanges.

© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.