South Korea Cracks Down on $416K Crypto Fraud, 3 Jailed

After hearing of a $416,000 crypto scam ring, a South Korean Court has signed a verdict to send 3 members of this scheme to prison; as per a report of Chosun(dot)com, the masterminds of the bogus scheme have fooled hundreds for around 600 million won.

It is worth noting that the Court has found that all three identified individuals have breached regulations, leading to a million-dollar fraud.

The mastermind promised high returns to the investors

According to the document filed with the Court, Mr. A has been identified as the ringleader and the Chief Executive Officer of the bogus scheme; the mastermind has reportedly promised victims of getting 30% monthly over the original stakes.

The prison term for the mastermind is four and a half years, and two other hands have been jailed for three and a half years and two and a half years. 

It is worth noting that all three individuals began operations of the ring from a building in Busan in June 2019. Over the past few years, the establishment and development of bogus crypto investment has reached a new height, which raised concerns over the safety and security of users and investors seeking to invest in digital assets.

While hearing the case, the Judge added, “ The method and circumstances of the crime – deceiving investors by making promises about crypto assets – were very deplorable.” 

South Korea is trying hard to tackle illicit crime related to crypto

Earlier on March 27, 2025, Todayq reported that Google PlayStore had blocked the downloads and updates for 17 centralized exchanges at the request of South Korea.

The list of blocked exchanges includes KuCoin and MEXC, among a few others. The restriction was implemented after the nation enhanced its oversight over the registration of crypto-based businesses.

Following the restrictions, new users will not be allowed to download these applications from the Google Play Store, and those already holding them will not get any updates on their now-restricted applications.

This is the 2nd or 3rd time that the nation has banned the availability of some known offshore centralized crypto exchanges. On March 21st, it was reported that a teacher was jailed for stealing money from the students to make investments in digital assets.

Until March 01, 2025, around 32% of South Korea’s population has been holding cryptocurrency, which is expected to reach a new height in the next few years.

In 2021, the government of South Korea plans to impose a 20% tax on gains from crypto, but the nation has continued to delay the implementation of taxes, and there are expectations that it might be implemented by 2027.

The move not to implement taxes on crypto in South Korea has opened a new path for digital assets and has also lured thousands of new investors.