A South Korean man was sentenced to 8 years in prison for operating a fraudulent securities platform and laundering $2.9 million using cryptocurrency

A South Korean court has sentenced a man to prison for creating a fake securities trading platform and laundering his $4.2 million in illegal proceeds through cryptocurrency.

According to market reports, the operator of this fake platform copied the trademark and data of a "well-known" securities company in an attempt to make the scam appear more legitimate. The case was heard in the Gwangju District Court's criminal division, where presiding Judge Kim Young-kyu noted that the platform defrauded a total of 116 victims. Judge Kim ultimately sentenced the man to 8 years in prison. The court hearing revealed that a 41-year-old accomplice helped him convert $2.9 million from investors into cryptocurrency multiple times through company accounts and private wallets to complete the money laundering process. This case highlights the surge in criminal activities within the cryptocurrency industry. According to FBI data, reported losses from cryptocurrency investment scams exceeded $5.8 billion in 2024. Statistics from DefiLlama show that cybercriminals stole over $2.4 billion in 2025 through hacking and exploiting vulnerabilities, which is double the amount in 2024. Additionally, the so-called "pig butchering" scams stole $4 billion in 2024, with Chainalysis data indicating a surge in related cases.