South Korean Police Arrest Crypto Scammer Despite Costly Plastic Surgery

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As a seasoned analyst with years of experience under my belt, I’ve seen my fair share of criminal escapades, but this one takes the cake. The sheer audacity of a scammer going to such lengths as plastic surgery and wigs to evade capture is nothing short of extraordinary. It’s like a bad spy movie come to life.

South Korean law enforcement agencies have captured a well-known cryptocurrency swindler who resorted to drastic measures to avoid being caught, such as getting cosmetic surgery.

An unnamed individual orchestrated a deceptive digital currency scam, pocketing around 15.6 million US dollars (equivalent to approximately 16 billion won) from a total of 158 unsuspecting investors.

Based on local news accounts, this individual, posing as a con artist, was active from November 2021 to June 2022. They enticed victims by offering a supposed 18% return each month on nonexistent cryptocurrency mining ventures.

Although he made extensive attempts to evade capture, the 40-year-old man on the run was eventually apprehended in August 2024, following close to a year of eluding authorities. This arrest signaled the culmination of an extensive 10-month search that commenced when he missed his pre-trial detention hearing in September 2023. As a result, the court issued a warrant for his arrest and the police embarked on a thorough investigation to locate him.

To avoid being caught, the con artist opted for a costly facelift estimated at approximately 21 million won (around $16,000). The surgeries, which included changes to his eyes, nose, and facial structure, were intended to make him unrecognizable. Furthermore, he started using wigs to add another layer of disguise to his identity.

In the end, all the suspect’s efforts to evade capture proved futile. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency managed to identify him using a mix of surveillance footage, phone records, and online searches. They were able to trace his whereabouts to an apartment in Guri, Gyeonggi Province, where he was eventually arrested.

As a researcher, I’m currently delving into an intriguing trend: South Korea has been witnessing a series of high-profile incidents linked to cryptocurrency-related crimes lately. Yesterday itself, the CEO of Haru Invest, Hugo Hyungsoo Lee, was tragically attacked during his trial, accused of defrauding investors out of nearly a billion dollars in crypto investments.

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2024-08-29 23:32