Last October, a fake staking site that operated for eight days stole 3.4 million $XRP with 71 investors. This amount is equivalent to $8.5 million. Seoul police said the fraudulent operation deceived investors by posing as Flare Network and FXRP. The fake site promised investors monthly returns of 1.5% to 1.8%, while claiming that capital was guaranteed.
Fraud Details
The fraudulent transaction prompted investors to withdraw them $XRP from local exchanges and transferring them to wallets controlled by the scammers via offshore platforms. The site closed its doors on October 23 and the operators disappeared. Police revealed that the scammers spread misinformation on platforms such as portal blogs, online news articles and Wikipedia, and produced videos using a paid replacement on YouTube.
Police investigation and its results
Seoul police found assets worth a total of 27.3 billion won ($18.8 million) linked to the fraud and froze 17.3 billion won. Two individuals linked to the fraud were referred to the public prosecutor for aggravated fraud. In addition, another person is being prosecuted for forgery in connection with the fraud. Police issued 54 search and seizure warrants related to this fraud and arrested a suspect who had returned from overseas and was in hiding.
South Korean police announced a zero-tolerance policy against cryptocurrency scams this year and warned investors to check official sources before sending funds. This is seen as part of increased vigilance and measures against cryptocurrency fraud in South Korea.
