Acknowledged as deceased, the cryptocurrency fraudster has compensated the victims., 2026/03/06 13:11:28

In South Korea, a crypto scammer will face trial after allegedly stealing 120 million won (approximately $81,000) in cryptocurrency in 2019, while being officially recognized as deceased for several years. His crypto assets have now been distributed to the victims of the theft.

According to the Seoul prosecution, in June 2019, the perpetrator executed a significant cryptocurrency fraud and fled to Cambodia. Charges were filed against him in absentia. A few months later, his family petitioned the court to declare the fugitive missing. The court granted the request. Under South Korean law, this ruling effectively declared the individual dead. 

The man lived abroad for several years. However, in January, Cambodian authorities were able to identify him, leading to his deportation back to South Korea. Immediately upon his return, he was arrested. Through the court, the prosecution annulled the ruling that had declared the accused missing and subsequently secured the unfreezing of his cryptocurrency assets on exchanges.  

By court order, the cryptocurrency exchanges sold the perpetrator’s assets. Victims received 90 million won as compensation for their losses.  

Recently, South Korea’s tax agency inadvertently published the seed phrase of a confiscated Ledger crypto wallet. As a result, unknown individuals withdrew 4 million PRTG tokens valued at $4.8 million from the address. These assets had been confiscated from 124 major debtors. This incident followed another controversial case in which a hacker stole confiscated bitcoins worth $21.4 million from the South Korean prosecution.