Good day everybody,

Welcome to CryptoGod-1's blog on all things crypto. Authorities from the South Korean Customs Services have recently cracked down by shutting down an international gambling ring believed to be making use of the stable-coin USDT. 

South Korean Customs Service

The law enforcement of South Korea has continued their crackdown on crypto crime, with the Custom Officials having shut down a suspected international gambling ring that made use of the stable-coin USDT. In a broadcast by KBS, the officers have arrested seven people after a series of raids, with one suspect remanded in custody.

The case will now be passed onto the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office , with the seven individuals charged with violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act. Two of the suspects have reportedly fled abroad in a bid to avoid arrest, as the offices noted the individual they retained in custody was the group’s unofficial leader. A search continues for the remainder of the suspects associated with the alleged gambling ring.

At a press conference held by the customs services a number of images were shown of items seized in the raids, which included Korean (KRW) and American (USD) banknotes, as shown below.

The custom officers went on to claim that the gambling ring made use of social media channels to find new customers for their illegal gambling sites. The ring would convert the money it received to USDT, amassing over $12 million worth of the stable-coin. Winners were paid their winnings in USDT tokens according to the officers, and the group would use an “illegal gambling establishment in the Philippines” to convert fiat to USDT. There were apparently two secret offices set up in both Seoul, South Korea, and Bonifacio Global City, near the Philippine capital, for the gang to work out of.

The officers went on to claim that the group’s leader “set up multiple shell companies for arbitrage crypto trading.” The officers also noted how the ring created fake documents to pretend to pay for imports, with the Seoul-based customs officers confiscating “materials related to illegal remittances” and “cash” worth almost $182,000.

The nation of South Korea is famously strict regarding gambling, with only one brick-and-mortar casino in the country with a license to admit domestic customers. The authorities in the nation have been busy cracking down on illegal online gambling sites and casinos for over a decade, with South Korea’s five biggest crypto exchanges noting earlier in the week that they "would join financial regulators to hunt undeclared crypto operators."

Only a month ago the police in South Jeolla Province had arrested a group of people they suspect of scamming over 170 cryptocurrency investors by posing as a crypto-issuing robot development company. Of the arrests, a 63-year-old and a 36-year-old were charged with fraud-related offenses with the alleged masterminds handed over to prosecutors. It is believed by officers that the group managed to raise almost $3 million from their victims by promising lucrative returns and rewards. 

With the authorities cracking down on illegal gambling and crypto related scams in South Korea, the nation is making real efforts to ensure it is not consumed by scams and crimes by crypto related groups. This can only be good news as it should, in theory, ensure less people are duped by these scams. Hopefully anyway.

Have a great day.

Peace. CryptoGod-1.

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