cryptofraud

South Korean courts have handed down prison sentences to two men involved in a large-scale voice phishing operation and subsequent money laundering using cryptocurrencies. According to the ruling, funds worth approximately $1 million in the stablecoin USDT were laundered through an illegal crypto exchange.
The main organizer of the scheme, a 41-year-old man, was sentenced to five years in prison. His subordinate and employee received a sentence of two years and eight months. Prosecutors stated that the two operated an illegal cryptocurrency exchange that served as a key conduit for laundering proceeds from voice phishing scams.

Illegal exchange used as a laundering hub
Investigators revealed that the defendants closely cooperated with an organized voice phishing group operating largely from abroad. Communication between the criminals took place via Telegram over a period of roughly three months.
The scam itself followed a familiar voice phishing pattern. The perpetrators posed as police officers or relatives in distress, deceiving victims into transferring money under false pretenses. Victims were instructed to send funds to bank accounts controlled by the illegal exchange run by the convicted men.
Once the money arrived from local banks, exchange employees immediately converted the fiat currency into USDT, the stablecoin issued by Tether. The entire process was designed to be as fast as possible in order to minimize the chances of intervention by authorities.

Funds vanished within an hour
According to prosecutors, the speed of the transfers was a critical factor. From the moment victims sent their money, it often took less than an hour for the funds to move from bank accounts through cash handling and finally into cryptocurrency form.
This rapid execution prevented banks and regulators from freezing accounts in time. Even when victims reported the fraud to police, there was virtually no window to recover the stolen funds.
Prosecutors also told the court that the voice phishing operation itself was run from overseas, though the exact location was not disclosed. The key money-laundering steps, however, were carried out through the illegal exchange in South Korea.

Court: Defendants made restitution nearly impossible
Presiding judge Lee Young-cheol stated that the court found no attempt by the defendants to mitigate the serious harm inflicted on victims. The ruling was reported by the newspaper Yeongnam Ilbo.
The judge described the crimes as particularly egregious, noting that the defendants’ actions had almost completely eliminated any chance for victims to recover their money. Both men were convicted under a special law aimed at preventing and compensating damages caused by telecommunications-based financial fraud.
Authorities also acknowledged that the exact number of victims affected by the voice phishing scheme remains unknown.

Warnings over growing misuse of stablecoins
The case highlights a broader trend that South Korean authorities have been warning about for some time. While cryptocurrency adoption in South Korea continues to accelerate, digital assets are increasingly being exploited for criminal purposes. Regulators reported a 54% year-on-year increase in suspicious crypto transactions last year.
Ministers and lawmakers are now urging faster government action, particularly with regard to stablecoins such as USDT and USDC. In September, lawmaker Jin Sung-joon warned that stablecoins are being used more frequently in foreign exchange crimes, including illegal currency trading.
He stressed the need for a coordinated and proactive strategy involving law enforcement bodies such as KoFIU and the Korea Customs Service to better track, identify, and prosecute criminal financial flows.

Lawmakers are also calling for additional policy measures to prevent illegal and unauthorized money transfers and to more effectively address financial crimes involving crypto assets.

#SouthKorea , #CryptoCrime , #CryptoFraud , #USDT , #CryptoNews

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A 46-year-old woman from the western Russian city of Kursk has fallen victim to a large-scale cryptocurrency investment scam, losing 28 million rubles over the course of one year. The case was disclosed on Monday by Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.
According to police, the woman was initially contacted via a messaging application by a man who claimed to be living in an Arab country. The scammer presented himself as an experienced cryptocurrency investor and gradually gained her trust by portraying detailed knowledge of crypto markets.
He told the victim she could earn significant profits by following his instructions, which began with downloading a specific mobile application allegedly used for crypto investing.

Scam Built Over a Year Using the “Pig Butchering” Method
Russian investigators said the case followed a classic “pig butchering” scheme—a long-term fraud technique in which perpetrators build trust with victims over time and gradually persuade them to invest increasingly large sums.
The scammer promised high and stable returns, guided the woman step by step through the supposed investment process, and encouraged repeated transfers of funds in cryptocurrencies. Investigators said it took roughly one year for the perpetrator to fully execute the scheme.
As the fraud progressed, the victim exhausted her personal savings and, believing that higher investments would lead to even greater profits, sought additional funding.
“She sold three apartments, a car, a gold bar, took out bank loans, and borrowed money from acquaintances to raise more funds, convinced that future returns would offset the losses,” authorities said.
Once the woman ran out of money, the scammer deleted all communication records and cut off contact entirely, prompting her to report the incident to the police.

Crypto “Pig Butchering” Scams Continue Across Russia
Russia’s Interior Ministry said it is investigating several similar cases reported in other regions of the country.
In the Kirov region, a woman lost more than 2 million rubles after trusting investment promises from fake cryptocurrency exchanges. Like the victim in Kursk, she believed her funds were generating steady returns, only to later discover that both the platforms and contacts were fraudulent.
Another case involved a 63-year-old man from the city of Kirov, who lost approximately 3 million rubles in late July after communicating with scammers via a messenger app. The fraudster posed as a financial adviser offering an “easy and profitable way to make money through cryptocurrency trading” in exchange for a 20% share of the profits.
The man agreed, registered on a fake trading platform, and transferred funds to accounts provided by the unknown contact. Police said he invested his own savings and later added borrowed money, bringing the total amount transferred to 2,981,000 rubles.

Similar Scams Reported in Belarus
Comparable schemes have also been reported in Belarus. A 23-year-old woman from Minsk contacted the Soviet District police after realizing she was unable to withdraw the money she believed she had earned.
According to her statement, she encountered an advertisement on a social media platform and left her phone number after clicking on a link. She was subsequently contacted by someone claiming to be an analyst from an investment platform.
The woman registered on a specialized website and, over two months, transferred approximately 50,000 rubles to an electronic wallet. When she attempted to withdraw her funds, the fake analyst demanded additional deposits, prompting her to suspect fraud and contact the authorities.

#Cryptoscam , #CryptoFraud , #russia , #cybercrime , #CryptoNews

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The year 2025 went down in crypto market history as the worst year on record for security incidents. Although the year started relatively quietly, attacks gradually intensified and, more importantly, changed in structure. According to aggregated data from security firm PeckShield, total losses exceeded $4.04 billion, representing a year-over-year increase of 34.2%.
For comparison, estimated losses in 2024 stood at approximately $3.01 billion. While earlier years were dominated by isolated exploits, 2025 was defined by highly targeted and sophisticated attacks against centralized exchanges, smart contracts, and even Web3 development teams themselves.

Hacks and Scams: Two Primary Attack Vectors
Overall losses in 2025 can be divided into two main categories.

Direct hacking incidents accounted for roughly $2.67 billion, marking a 24.2% increase year over year. Even more dramatic was the surge in fraud-related losses, which reached $1.37 billion, a staggering 64.2% increase compared with the previous year.
At the same time, recovery efforts became less effective. While nearly $488.5 million was recovered in 2024 through transaction tracing and token freezes, that figure fell to just $334.9 million in 2025. Attackers clearly became faster, more coordinated, and better at obscuring fund flows.

The Bybit Hack: A Defining Event of 2025
One of the most significant incidents of the year was the hack of the Bybit exchange, which alone resulted in losses exceeding $1.4 billion, largely in Ethereum. This single event heavily influenced annual statistics and became emblematic of a broader reality: even major centralized platforms are not immune to advanced attacks.

North Korea and Its Dominance in Web3 Exploits
According to data from Hacken, North Korean hacking groups were responsible for as much as 52% of total gains from Web3-related attacks in 2025. The second half of the year proved especially dangerous, with a sharp acceleration in attacks on DeFi protocols, particularly newly launched decentralized exchanges (DEXs).
In contrast, bridge exploits were less frequent than in previous years, as cross-chain bridges became less central to ecosystem activity. Instead, attackers relied on more mature laundering and swapping infrastructures. Tornado Cash remained a preferred tool for Ethereum-based funds, while advanced DEX routing enabled rapid conversion and dispersion of stolen assets.

Smart Contract Vulnerabilities and Cloned Protocol Risks
Vulnerabilities in smart contracts accounted for approximately 12.8% of all exploits. Attacks were not limited to large protocols—smaller vaults and contracts were frequently targeted whenever a known and relatively simple flaw was identified.
Risk was further amplified by the widespread use of cloned smart contracts across Web3 projects. Once a vulnerability was discovered in one implementation, attackers were able to replicate the exploit across multiple platforms in rapid succession.

Attacks Shift From Infrastructure to People
One of the most important trends of 2025 was a decisive shift away from mass phishing campaigns toward highly targeted attacks on individuals. Hackers increasingly focused on Web3 development teams, which often control multisignature wallets, high-value vaults, and administrative permissions for smart contracts.
A particularly effective new vector involved fake job recruitment campaigns. Attackers posed as legitimate projects, posted developer job listings, and distributed malware during the hiring process. The malware was often disguised as a meeting link or technical document and, once executed, gained access to private keys stored on the compromised system.

Multisignature Wallets Emerge as a Critical Weak Point
Access control failures became one of the most serious systemic weaknesses. As much as 53% of all hacks were linked to direct access to multisignature wallets. The remaining losses resulted from a combination of user error and smart contract flaws, particularly unauthorized minting, withdrawals, or manipulation of DeFi tokens.
This pattern continued into 2026. The first major hack of the new year, involving the TrueBit protocol, followed a similar model, allowing an attacker to mint and withdraw unauthorized tokens and steal up to $26 million.

Conclusion: 2025 as a Warning for the Entire Crypto Sector
The events of 2025 made it clear that crypto security is no longer just about code—it is fundamentally about people, processes, and access management. Attackers adapted faster than defensive systems and moved decisively toward the weakest points in the ecosystem: key individuals and operational control layers.

#CryptoSecurity , #CryptoScams , #CryptoFraud , #CryptoNews , #cybercrime

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,,The information and views presented in this article are intended solely for educational purposes and should not be taken as investment advice in any situation. The content of these pages should not be regarded as financial, investment, or any other form of advice. We caution that investing in cryptocurrencies can be risky and may lead to financial losses.“