Police Arrest 215 on Charges Including Fraud and Criminal Organization; 12 Including Ringleader YouTuber Detained
Induced Investment Through Exaggerated Advertising to Sell Worthless Coins
Also Obtained Loans Using Stolen Personal Information
An investment leading scam organization that deceived about high returns from virtual asset investments and collected around 300 billion KRW from over 15,000 people has been uncovered.
The Anti-Corruption and Economic Crime Investigation Unit of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency announced on the 13th that they arrested 215 people related to a similar investment advisory company on charges including fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, and sent 12 people including the 40-year-old ringleader Mr. A to prosecution in custody.
According to the police, Mr. A and others are accused of receiving 325.6 billion KRW from 15,304 people under the pretext of investment funds by claiming to sell and issue 28 types of virtual assets from December 2021 to March last year. Mr. A, who operated a similar investment advisory company and was a YouTuber with 620,000 subscribers, was investigated to have turned to selling virtual assets to make up for losses after the stock he recommended in 2020 was suspended from trading, leading to collective refund requests from members.
Mr. A established a separate holding company and created 15 organizations under it. Using about 9 million phone numbers obtained through YouTube lectures and advertisements, they made indiscriminate calls, inducing investments with phrases such as "20 times the principal," "a chance to change your destiny," and "sell your apartment and take out a loan to buy coins."
This image is for illustrative purposes only and is unrelated to the article content. Photo by Asia Economy.
They were also confirmed to have approached investors who suffered losses from stock and coin investments again by promising to compensate losses with coins that had good profit prospects and sold coins to them. Most victims were middle-aged or older, with individual investments reaching up to 1.2 billion KRW, resulting in losses. There were even cases where victims sold their actual residences to fund their investments.
A police official stated, "Investment leading scams are increasingly evolving into organized and sophisticated forms, producing many victims," and urged, "Please be especially cautious as cases guaranteeing high returns through non-face-to-face investment solicitations are highly likely to be scams."
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