South Korean authorities have revealed cases of crypto-fraud for $1 billion

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A South Korean lawmaker said that after strengthening oversight of the crypto industry in the first half of 2022, customs identified $1 billion worth of fraudulent crypto transactions.

Kang Byung-won said that withIn 2017, customs officers recorded a total of more than 3.9 trillion won ($2.8 billion) in fraudulent crypto transactions. Of this, more than 1.5 trillion won ($1 billion) was recorded from January to June 2022. This is much more than for the entire 2021 - 826.8 billion won ($600 million).

South Korea Customs Service last yearlaunched a program to pursue cryptocurrency fraudsters and strengthened control over digital assets. The deputy clarifies that all fraudulent crypto transactions were associated with international fiat bank or electronic transfers and incidents involving the transportation of banknotes abroad.

“The functionality of digital assets that allows themengage in cross-border transactions requires enhanced technical capabilities and joint oversight by regulators and investigative agencies,” Kahn said.

Customs officials explain thatMost scams involve over-the-counter cryptocurrency trading and the use of so-called kimchi premiums. The kimchi premium is a type of exchange scam in which South Korean traders purchase cryptocurrencies overseas, where they are cheaper, and sell them on local exchanges, where prices are higher. As a result, the profit reaches 30%.

Such deals violate South KoreanCurrency legislation. In July, law enforcement reported that the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) was looking into illicit Bitcoin trading as part of a major investigation. A month later, South Korean regulators said they had arrested 16 people who took advantage of the kimchi bonus. In 2021, South Korean authorities said that after strengthening control over crypto transactions, the number of cases of such fraud began to decline.