Thai authorities have dismantled a $15 million rip-off ring accused of focusing on over 870 South Koreans by means of an elaborate community of crypto, romance, and faux lottery schemes.
Key Takeaways:
- Thai and South Korean police arrested 33 members of a $15M rip-off ring focusing on over 870 South Koreans.
- The group used a mixture of crypto fraud, romance scams, and faux lottery schemes to deceive victims.
- Funds had been laundered by means of pay as you go playing cards, OTC brokers, and micro-transactions coordinated through encrypted apps.
The group, working beneath the identify “Lungo Firm,” was described by investigators as a uncommon instance of “multi-layered laundering” that blended a number of types of fraud to obscure its path.
Seoul and Thai Police Arrest 33 in Cross-Border Crypto Rip-off Crackdown
The Seoul Metropolitan Police introduced the arrest of 25 suspects related to the group, whereas Thai police apprehended the ringleader and eight core members.
All 9 are presently in custody in Thailand and awaiting extradition to South Korea.
Not like earlier fraud operations that usually used a single technique, Lungo Firm employed a variety of techniques.
Victims had been tricked into sending funds through pretend compensation gives for knowledge breaches, romance scams, or by being led to put money into nugatory cryptocurrencies by means of fraudulent platforms.
“This group used a number of techniques in a scientific approach,” a police official mentioned. “It wasn’t a one-dimensional rip-off—it was structured and layered.”
The group’s laundering playbook additionally possible included pay as you go playing cards, on line casino cash-outs, and splitting transactions into micro-amounts to evade detection methods.
For ultimate liquidation, they relied on high-volume OTC brokers throughout Southeast Asia, coordinated by means of encrypted apps like Telegram and WeChat.
The case comes weeks after Seoul police dismantled one other worldwide cybercrime ring that stole $28.1 million from South Korean elites, together with celebrities and executives, by hacking into monetary and crypto accounts.
$3.5B LuBian Hack Revealed as Largest Bitcoin Heist Ever Confirmed
A beforehand undisclosed hack from December 2020 has now been confirmed as the most important crypto theft ever, with 127,426 BTC, value $3.5 billion then and practically $14.5 billion at present, stolen from Chinese language mining pool LuBian.
The breach, uncovered by Arkham Intelligence, exploited weaknesses in LuBian’s non-public key era system.
BREAKING: ARKHAM UNCOVERS $3.5B HEIST – THE LARGEST EVER
LuBian was a Chinese language mining pool with amenities in China & Iran. Primarily based on evaluation of on-chain knowledge, it seems that 127,426 BTC was stolen from LuBian in December 2020, value $3.5 billion on the time and now value… pic.twitter.com/PnIOKgMt0i— Arkham (@arkham) August 2, 2025
LuBian had emerged quickly in 2020 as one of many prime Bitcoin mining swimming pools, branding itself as a protected and high-yield platform.
By early 2021, the pool vanished with out clarification, resulting in hypothesis of regulatory shutdown or privatization. Arkham’s findings level to a dramatic hack because the trigger.
Nearly all of LuBian’s BTC, over 90%, was drained in a single day, adopted by further losses the subsequent day through Bitcoin and USDT transfers on the Omni layer.
The stolen cash have remained dormant since July 2024. LuBian tried to contact the thief through Bitcoin’s OP_RETURN operate, providing a reward.
Whereas Mt. Gox’s collapse concerned extra BTC in whole, the LuBian incident marks the most important confirmed crypto heist by way of worth on the time it occurred. The attacker’s id stays unknown, and the stolen belongings have but to floor.
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