Suwon County Prosecutor’s Office said the originators of one of the scams positioned themselves as a P2P site for trading in fashionable virtual goods, including traditional Korean and Japanese outfits such as hanbok and kimono.
The attackers claimed to have developed a crypto-asset that would increase in value as it was stored on the platform.
Fraudsters lured investors by promising returns of 3% to 16%. The scheme operated according to the pyramid principle: investors were divided into eight levels.
The very first was promised the highest yield – 16% per day of the deposit amount. The perpetrators managed to lure 435 investors who invested at least $333 million in the scheme.
Police discovered another cryptocurrency scheme in Seoul. Alleged mastermind known as Gu defrauded investors of $27 million.
Gu assured investors that his company is headquartered in Japan and operates in 23 countries, and not a single investor suffered any losses.
The creator of the scam advertised his firm as reputable and promised to be personally responsible for any losses to users. While the investigation is ongoing, Gu is prohibited from leaving the country.
In January, South Korean authorities revealed plans to launch a special system to track suspicious cryptocurrency transactions, and late last year the local government increased its budget for combating crimes involving digital assets.