"The Group Chat Saying 'Trust and Wait'... The Never-Ending Coin Scam Formula"

Executives Arrested but
'Coin Hostage' Persuasion Continues
49.1% of Scam Victims
Obtain Information from 'Portals, Cafes, and Group Chats'

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] “Don’t be fooled by the news!”

“Trust and wait. Positive energy!”

The VGlobal exchange group chat room, which gathered over 52,000 investors over about a year and caused damages amounting to 2.23 trillion KRW.

Although four operators were arrested on charges of unauthorized fundraising and fraud, attempts to appease the victims continue. The ‘multi-level marketing’ scheme that prevents others from leaving in order to recover their own losses is still ongoing even after the perpetrators’ arrests.

According to our investigation on the 3rd, the VGlobal exchange operators gathered victims in the group chat room and claimed that VGlobal would soon recover while only providing partial information. An exchange manager, who appears to be a recruiter, said in the group chat, “Even conglomerates operate well even if the owner or CEO is arrested,” and “Although the operators of VGlobal were arrested, it will soon return to normal.”

Unverified information was also spread. After introducing a shopping mall where payments can be made with their self-issued V-Cash, they claimed it would soon be listed on the stock market. Messages opposing this were deleted. They also introduced that V-Cash could be used at certain stores. They asked for rebuttal comments on negative articles about VGlobal.

Experts pointed out that the sloppy information-sharing system in the cryptocurrency market, which relies on ‘private channels’ without public disclosures, is producing scams involving ‘bad coins’ based on mobile platforms. Hong Ki-hoon, a professor of Business Administration at Hongik University, said, “This is a typical multi-level marketing scam that prevents others from leaving in order to recover one’s own losses,” and added, “Since it is a structure where money will inevitably be lost someday, raising awareness quickly is necessary for damage recovery.”

Meanwhile, according to a survey conducted by Asia Economy from the 1st to the 15th targeting 316 victims of bad coin scams, 158 victims (49.1%) said they receive coin-related investment information through ‘portals, cafes, and group chat rooms.’ Acquaintances accounted for 36.7% (116 people), and YouTube accounted for 25% (79 people).