Hundreds of Koreans targeted in $15M crypto scam ring busted by Thailand police
The post Hundreds of Koreans targeted in $15M crypto scam ring busted by Thailand police appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
Thailand authorities have dismantled a crypto scam ring that stole over $15.1 million from 878 Korean victims through systematic multi-method scams. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Economic Crime Investigation Division announced the arrest of 25 members of “Lungo Company,” which operated from a resort in Pattaya, Thailand. Multi-method crypto scam targets 878 Korean victims Lungo Company was a criminal group from July 2022 until July 2023 when it swindled 21 billion won ($15.1 million) with well-organized schemes of fraud. The group split into special teams, which dealt with various methods of scams unlike the usual rings, which deal with a single approach. Police officers indicated that the strategy stood out from the previously used schemes by the criminals. The romance scamming group stole photos and used them to create fictitious profiles for social media sites and disguised themselves as potential love interests. The victims were slowly persuaded into investing money into fake sites after forming attachments. Yet another expert team used a stolen database from a lottery number suggestion portal to attack chosen victims. The hackers approached victims posing as those providing refunds or compensation for the leakage of personal data from the exploited platform. The victims were thus lured into buying bogus cryptocurrency during the fake compensation transaction. The group also operated fake reservation scams and impersonated public institutions to trick victims into financial transfers. Each team maintained detailed victim profiles and communication logs to coordinate their deception efforts. The leaders maintained strict discipline for all members by taking away passports and imposing communication restriction. The members were not allowed to exit the Pattaya resort facility as telephones were also strictly monitored. Advanced money laundering techniques exploit cross-chain networks Crypto security expert analysis reveals the Lungo Company used “multi-layered laundering” techniques to hide stolen funds. The organization likely used chain-hopping…
