Just-In: US joins South Korea in crypto phishing scam investigation

In an attempt to impose crypto regulations, the South Korean government has continued to crackdown illegal activities using crypto in the nation. They are actively working towards unveiling crypto scams to further retrieve the citizens’ stolen funds. However, Korean authorities failed to crack one of such long-standing cases of a 2017 cryptocurrency phishing scam, and utilised resources from the US to catch the culprits.

Today, prosecutors in Seoul confirmed that they have partnered with the US authorities to investigate a crypto phishing scam. South Korea’s Supreme Prosecutors Office (SPO) had tapped into intelligence provided by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) earlier in 2018 to arrest three suspects in the cyber fraud case and further ascertained the identity of one Japanese suspect among the three. Additionally, the SPO has successfully reimbursed an approximate of 140 million won, i.e., $118,000 to some of the fraud victims.

“Cryptocurrency scams are difficult to track down. This is the first time that the prosecution has successfully carried out the whole process of investigation and damage recovery through international cooperation,” local news publication quoted an official from the SPO said.

US authorities lead South Korea to three suspects