South Korean police said Wednesday they arrested a man in his 30s on fraud charges for allegedly stealing about US$658,000 in cryptocurrencies based on personal data leaked on local social media platform Naver Band.
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Fast facts
- The man allegedly stole cryptocurrencies from 90 people, with one victim claiming to have lost around US$403,781.
- Band is a social networking platform operated by South Korean internet giant Naver. It allows people of similar interests to form groups.
- Most of the personal information was mistakenly exposed by an administrator for the social media firm, including members’ cryptocurrency exchange account information.
- The man, who allegedly committed his acts from January to May this year, was arrested on May 13 at his home and is currently under custody, police said.
- Criminal cases involving cryptocurrencies in South Korea are steadily increasing according to the country’s police agency, with the number of victims growing to 8,891 in 2021 from 388 in 2018.
See related article: Huge cryptocurrency scam boosts S. Korea’s crypto crime losses to US$5B