Police have caught a gang of scammers who stole NFT (Non-Fungible Token) investor money.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Cyber Investigation Division announced that they are arresting 26-year-old A, who stole 210 million won from nine victims after registering the cat character NFT on the official exchange, and are investigating four accomplices.
They are accused of hiding after attracting investors from November last year to January this year, saying that if they purchase the Goyanki character NFT, they will give them virtual assets together.
An NFT is a digital file with unique ownership of an original such as a picture or video with blockchain technology.
They are also accused of manipulating the market price by buying NFTs on their own with the purpose of intercepting investors' money.
NFTs, which were traded at 36,000 won after they started selling, were once traded at 500,000 won.
The police explained that they got to know each other at a virtual asset investment meeting and committed the crime by creating 10,000 cat characters in 20 days, aiming to make NFT production relatively easier than other coins.
It is said that they hid without returning the victims' money because they were hacked two months after the cat character NFT was released.
The value of the NFTs they created has plummeted to around 3,000 won per character.
Seo Sang-hyeok, 1st Chief of Cyber Investigation at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, urged people not to blindly trust fame or social media promotions and to pay special attention, such as checking the history of the operation team or NFT transaction details from time to time to prevent damage from NFT fraud.