A prominent financial influencer from South Korea, recognised only as Mr. A, has been implicated in a cryptocurrency scam that defrauded investors out of a staggering $232.7 million. Authorities have taken 215 individuals into custody, including the accused mastermind, Mr. A. Police reports indicate that 12 of these individuals continue to be detained.
Mr. A, who is also a successful YouTuber with an extensive following of 620,000 subscribers, resorted to selling virtual assets after his stock recommendations failed miserably, resulting in significant losses for his audience members. After investors amplified their demands for refunds, Mr. A allegedly established multiple bogus companies to perpetuate the scam, conning as many as 15,304 people into investing in an assortment of 28 cryptocurrencies.
An investigation led by the Gyeonggi South Police Agency’s Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Team disclosed that Mr. A and his crew fabricated six of the 28 cryptocurrencies themselves and manipulated the market for these specific tokens. The remaining cryptocurrencies were of little value or prominence.
The con artists utilized more than 9 million phone numbers sourced from Mr. A’s YouTube channel to market their scam, predominantly targeting middle-aged and elderly individuals. In some cases, they even masqueraded as members of the Financial Supervisory Service. The scam lured victims into parting with an entry fee of $854,000, some were even forced to sell their homes to fund their participation.
The police have since confiscated 22 Bitcoin from Mr. A and are working to seize an additional $34 million in cash from accounts linked to the fraud. South Korea’s news agency, Yonhap, has labelled this incident as the largest cryptocurrency scam in South Korean history. The nation has been grappling with escalating numbers of deceitful activities related to cryptocurrencies and has responded by scrutinising digital transactions for possible fraud as well as implementing severe punitive measures.