New-faced suspect in $12.1 million fraud arrested, crypto scam boiler rooms busted: Asia Express

Asia's weekly news roundup reviews the industry's most important developments.

The manhunt in South Korea has ended for the suspect who was arrested with a new face of 15 thousand dollars

South Korean police have arrested 14 individuals involved in crypto mining that pocketed 16 billion Korean won (about $12.1 million), citing a press conference on August 29.

Police said the program's chief producer, “Mr. A” (a common practice for suspects before official sentencing.) From November 2021 to June 2022, Mr. Scammed victims by promising them 18% monthly returns on investments in fake crypto mining businesses.

The investigation began after police received 21 complaints from across the country, which led to the arrest of Mr A and three others in September 2023.

But Mr A has not appeared at a pre-trial hearing since the 10-month manhunt.

He was finally arrested in July 2024 after undergoing several plastic surgeries, including eyelid, nose and facial contouring procedures.

Mr. A's facial reconstruction is estimated to have cost about 21 million Korean won (approximately $15,900).

He is said to have been using multiple Burner phones and bank accounts while changing residences frequently. To disguise the proceeds of crime, Mr. A bought cryptocurrency and then cashed it out through an associate who worked as a manager at a law firm.

During the investigation, police seized 100 million Korean won (about $75,500) in cash from Mr. A's hideout and seized assets worth 1.3 billion Korean won (about $982,000).

More unusual South Korean crypto news

South Korea is one of the largest cryptocurrency markets in the world. In the year In the first quarter of 2024, the South Korean winner surpassed the US dollar as the most traded fiat for crypto transactions.

This comes with a price, as the country is experiencing a spate of scams and scams, prompting some victims to take drastic measures.

In the year On August 28, the CEO of crypto product platform Haru Invest, Heingsoo Lee, was stabbed in a courtroom by a bystander. Lee was immediately taken to the hospital for treatment.

Lee is accused of defrauding 16,000 Haru users of $826 million in cryptocurrency.

Eyewitnesses told local reporters that the attacker was a regular attendee at Haru's court hearing and is believed to have deposited approximately 100 Bitcoins with the organization.

In the aftermath of the 2022 Terra-Luna disaster, Terraform Labs CEO Kwon Do Hyung's wife calls the police after a man breaks into a building secured by key pad entry systems, rang the doorbell and flees.

The man asked Kwon's wife, “Is your husband at home?” He reportedly asked them. before it disappears.

A rival threatens to sue the Wazirks.

Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinSwitch has announced at X that it will take legal action against rival WazirX to recover assets worth $9.6 million since WazirX's $230 million cyber attack in July.

CoinSwitch said it had no choice but to pursue legal action after its attempts to recover 2% of its total assets were unsuccessful.

WazirX faces a possible asset forfeiture in India following a petition filed on August 3, which asked the National Company Law Tribunal to investigate the company for fraud.

Meanwhile, WazirX, which is managed by Singapore-incorporated Zetai Pte's Zinmai India subsidiary, said it had filed a petition with the Singapore High Court for a six-month stay. This provides legal protection from creditor enforcement for troubled transactions.

The WazirX hack is expected to have a larger knock-on effect on India's crypto sector, as the finance ministry is expected to release a consultation paper on crypto regulation in early September, Sathvik Vishwanath, CEO of Indian crypto platform Unocoin, tells Us magazine.

“The industry itself is fairly new and none of the countries have yet completed the full regulation and implementation,” he said.

A crypto scam targeting Japanese victims has been discovered in Malaysia

Malaysian police have shut down a cryptocurrency scam call center operating in fenced-off luxury homes in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. It is believed that the operation is only one month.

According to state media Bernama, investigators said at a press conference on August 28 that they had arrested 21 people, including a Malaysian citizen, in raids earlier this month.

A local ran the operation while foreigners acted as customer service agents for the attack.

The scheme targeted Japanese victims of dating apps like Tinder while investing in Japanese crypto platforms Bitbank and CoinCheck.

A week before the Malaysian riots, authorities in the Philippines arrested 99 people after raiding an online fraud hub in the capital, Manila, the state-run Philippine News Agency reported.

The attack targeted a company called “AIA Company”, which was not registered locally and falsely presented itself as an offshore gaming operator.

The scammers pose as customer service representatives for a gaming company, but in reality, they pose as wealthy individuals or models to trick victims into investing in cryptocurrency projects.

During the raid, the police found rooms used to record and record inappropriate content. He also pointed out that there are employees who are forced to participate in the fraudulent activity and commit fraudulent activities.

Ronin is more than just an Axia chain for Filipinos.

Philippine cryptocurrency exchange Coins.ph has partnered with Australian digital payments platform Stables Money to use PHPC for cross-border remittances.

PHPC is a stable coin backed by cash against the Philippine peso.

Australian Payments says 28.44% of remittances are made in Philippine pesos.

The Philippines is one of the world's most remittance-receiving countries.

The World Bank has pegged the Southeast Asian country as the fourth largest in the world at $40 billion by 2023, behind India ($125 billion), Mexico ($67 billion) and China ($50 billion).

PHPC can be found on Ronin, the blockchain thanks to the Axie Infinity game that served as a safe side hustle for Filipinos during the pandemic.

The stablecoin has a supply of 66.2 million tokens, according to data from the Ronin blockchain.

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John Yun

Yohan Yun is a multimedia journalist who has been reporting on blockchain since 2017. He has contributed as an editor to the crypto media outlet Forkast and covered Asian tech stories as an assistant reporter for Bloomberg BNA and Forbes. He spends his free time cooking and experimenting with new recipes.