A South Korean court docket has jailed two Vietnamese nationals for utilizing Tether (USDT) to energy a cross-border cash laundering scheme.
The duo used the USD-pegged stablecoin to smuggle funds raised from voice phishing scams abroad.
USDT Cash Laundering Ring: Defendants Jailed for Two Years
The South Korean media outlet Monetary Information reported that the Legal Division of the Seoul Jap District Courtroom’s Presiding Choose Lee Jeong-hyeong sentenced the duo to 2 years in jail every on June 22.
The defendants had been recognized as a school pupil surnamed Duong (23) and an unemployed particular person surnamed Pham (additionally 23).
The court docket discovered each people responsible of violating the Particular Act on Prevention of Telecommunications and Monetary Fraud and Refund of Damages.
Prosecutors defined that Duong and Pham first made contact with the voice phishing rip-off ring in October final yr.
The ring recruited each by way of a Telegram open chat room. The ring’s organizers instructed Duong and Pham that they had been to obtain the proceeds of voice phishing scams in Korean gained.
The duo was then instructed to make use of this cash to purchase USDT, which they then despatched to a crypto pockets held by a member of a voice phishing gang who was residing in Vietnam.
The ring paid each Duong and Pham fee charges of fifty,000 gained ($36.44) to 100,000 gained ($72.88) per 10 million gained ($7,288) value of USDT they despatched.
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— The Korea JoongAng Every day (@JoongAngDaily) June 22, 2025
‘Hash Sentence Inevitable,’ Choose Explains
The court docket heard that the voice phishing ring succeeded in duping South Korea-based victims out of 1000’s of {dollars}’ value of money transfers.
The ring’s staff known as folks pretending to be bank card supply employees, insurance coverage firm staff, Nationwide Tax Service staffers, and even public prosecutors.
They normally instructed potential victims that they had been calling to examine the security of their financial institution accounts.
The ring used a variety of cash laundering methods, utilizing different accomplices from Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
The decide stated that the court docket had not handed out a harsher sentence as a result of neither of the defendants had felony data in South Korea. However Lee added:
“Even when the defendants didn’t orchestrate the crime, they have to be severely punished. They performed an important function within the crime, appearing as intermediaries. They’ve additionally not made any particular efforts to assist compensate the victims for the damages incurred.”
USDT-related crime is on the rise in South Korea, because the coin’s recognition within the nation continues to develop. This yr has seen a pointy rise in bogus USDT-themed over-the-counter offers and associated thefts.
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