On January 19, the Korea Customs Service Seoul Headquarters Customs Office announced that it had transferred a case involving large-scale illegal foreign exchange transactions using virtual assets to the prosecution. The investigation revealed that the group involved had illegally exchanged approximately 140 billion won (US$95 million) through virtual asset accounts both domestically and internationally over the past four years, collecting fees in the process, which is suspected of violating the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.
The Korean Customs Service disclosed that the gang collected funds from clients via WeChat Pay and Alipay, then used these funds to purchase virtual assets in multiple overseas countries and transfer them to wallets within South Korea, before converting them into Korean won and withdrawing the cash. Three people were involved, including a Chinese man in his 30s. The funds were used for various purposes, including trade payments, duty-free goods purchases, tuition fees, and funds with unclear uses; currency exchange was assisted in exchange for a handling fee.
