sabiz

A group of individuals who tricked victims into investing in fake products and scammed them out of billions of won have been apprehended by the police. The suspects reportedly lured investors by promising returns of 10–20% within a short period. To avoid suspicion of fraud, they impersonated legitimate P2P platforms.

On the 23rd, the Jeonbuk Provincial Police Agency announced the arrest of A (51) and six others on charges of fraud.

The suspects are accused of impersonating an online trading platform (P2P) to attract investors from May of last year and scamming them out of 6 billion won by facilitating fake virtual character transactions.

They lured victims by promising a 10-20% return on investment through buying and selling virtual characters between investors. However, these items had no real existence and could not be traded offline. The police revealed that victims were essentially paying for nonexistent items.

A police official stated, "On the surface, it appeared like a peer-to-peer transaction, but in reality, there was no substance behind the activity. Despite having no legitimate profit model, the suspects emphasized the business potential, which is similar to a pyramid scheme."

The police have emphasized that suspicious high-interest rates, promised high dividends, or guaranteed returns should raise red flags for potential illegal schemes. They also urged the public to check if a company is registered with legitimate financial authorities using the Financial Supervisory Service’s financial consumer information portal "FINE."

The police confirmed that they would continue to crackdown on P2P investment fraud based on this case.