Some 26.3 billion won in funds stolen through voice phishing and tied up in cryptocurrency exchanges has been returned to over 1,000 victims.

The Metropolitan Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced today (September 29) that it tracked the flow of funds frozen across five domestic cryptocurrency exchanges from 2023 to recently, identified 1,137 victims, and refunded 26.3 billion won in damages.

Police confirmed in 2023 that a substantial amount of voice phishing crime proceeds was frozen in cryptocurrency exchange accounts and worked with the exchanges to initiate refund procedures.

For voice phishing involving bank accounts, when a report of damage is filed, payments are suspended for the account in question and linked accounts.

Through information sharing between banks, the financial institution where the damage funds are ultimately held then returns the money to the victims.

However, unlike banks, cryptocurrency exchanges were unable to return the frozen funds because they did not receive information on voice phishing victims.

Starting in April 2023, police tracked the flow of funds for 1,050 cryptocurrency exchange e-wallets and approximately 163,000 bank accounts to locate the victims.

Police also uncovered cases where a portion of the frozen damage funds leaked out during the refund process.

Under the Virtual Asset User Protection Act implemented in July of last year, virtual asset service providers can restrict deposits and withdrawals on accounts for a set period.

However, as the maximum six-month freezing period expired, the account holders arbitrarily disposed of the damage funds.

Police estimate that the damage funds disposed of in this manner amount to 3.04 billion won, and are investigating 130 account holders involved for violating the Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment.

(Photo courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Yonhap News)