People wearing volunteer organization vests assemble electric fans and even pose for photos in front of a banner.

The organization, called Brilliance, used volunteer work as a front, while secretly orchestrating a multi-billion won cryptocurrency scam, according to police.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency's Cyber Investigation Division announced today (July 15) that it has arrested seven individuals, including a 50-year-old ringleader identified as A, on charges of fraud, telecommunications financial fraud, organizing a criminal group, and illegal deposit-taking.

The group is accused of swindling 40.9 billion won from approximately 400 victims between 2024 and March of this year by promising returns of over 1,000 percent on investments in a promising AI-related cryptocurrency.

Investigations revealed that the group posed as a volunteer organization, engaging in activities such as supporting earthquake relief in Myanmar, volunteering at domestic orphanages, and providing aid for wildfire damage. Once they had built trust with their members, they held investment seminars at hotels to lure them into investing in the virtual assets they had created.

The group established 11 branches nationwide using a multi-level marketing structure and even held events offering luxury cars and designer goods to branches that secured the highest investment amounts.

They also employed a Ponzi scheme, using funds from new members to pay off existing ones.

The group temporarily listed their coins on small, insolvent overseas exchanges to reassure investors, only to shut down the exchanges without notice and disappear.

Police have frozen 560 million won worth of virtual assets owned by the group through search and seizure operations.

[Kim Seong-taek, Superintendent at the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency's Cyber Investigation Unit 1: A legitimate financial investment company is required to register on the website managed by the Financial Supervisory Service. Checking for registration on the financial consumer protection portal FINE is the most basic way to prevent fraud.]

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency referred the suspects to the prosecution while they were in custody on the 9th.

Reported by Kwon Min-kyu | Video by Choi Hye-young | Produced by SBS Digital News