National Tax Service's Embarrassing Mistake: Seized Coin Master Key Exposed... Police Launch Investigation

The National Tax Service made an embarrassing mistake while promoting its success in seizing the assets of high-value tax delinquents by inadvertently exposing the master key to virtual assets (cryptocurrency). The police have launched an investigation into the matter.

Haeyoung Park, Director of the Tax Collection and Legal Affairs Bureau at the National Tax Service, is briefing on the results of on-site searches of major tax delinquents at the National Tax Service press room in the Government Sejong Complex on February 26, 2026. Photo by Yonhap News

On February 28, the Cyber Terror Response Division of the National Police Agency announced that it had received a request for investigation from the National Tax Service the previous day regarding the theft of seized virtual assets. The National Police Agency stated, "Given the seriousness of the incident, the Cyber Terror Investigation Unit of the National Police Agency immediately launched a preliminary investigation (internal review) upon receipt of the case. We will proceed with the investigation swiftly."

Previously, on February 26, the National Tax Service issued a press release titled "On-site Search of 124 High-Value Tax Delinquents Engaged in Concealing Transfer Proceeds, Business Income, and Leading Luxurious Lifestyles," announcing that it had collected a total of 8.1 billion won in overdue taxes. However, during this process, a photo of a USB drive used by a delinquent to store their coin personal wallet was released, inadvertently exposing the 'mnemonic' that serves as the master key.

This fact became known after Jaewoo Cho, Director (Professor) of the Blockchain Research Institute at Hansung University, revealed on social media the previous day: "It has been confirmed that 4 million PRTG tokens, worth approximately 4.8 million dollars (about 690 million won), were stolen using the mnemonic that was disclosed (released) by the National Tax Service in its press materials."

The National Tax Service is currently investigating whether the virtual assets in question were stolen by the delinquent themselves or by a third party through the exposed code. Since the police have launched an investigation, further clarification is expected.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.