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Photo courtesy of Yonhap News |
[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] Incheon, South Korea — An Incheon police officer who defrauded colleagues and acquaintances of more than ₩880 million (approx. USD 650,000) through a fake high-return cryptocurrency investment scheme has been sentenced to prison.
The Incheon District Court’s Criminal Division 5, presided over by Judge Hong Jun-seo, announced on December 2 that it had sentenced A, a police sergeant in his 30s at the Incheon Seobu Police Station, to three years in prison on charges of fraud. The court also ordered him to pay approximately ₩410 million in restitution to six victims.
According to the indictment, A solicited funds from 16 individuals, including colleagues at the same police station and high school friends, between March and June of last year, claiming he would generate high returns through cryptocurrency futures trading. He collected more than ₩880 million in total and failed to return the money.
A reportedly gained trust by telling co-workers, “I made ₩80 million through coin futures trading,” and boasting about earning over 40% profits, which induced more than 10 colleagues to hand over money. Investigators later found that A never earned such profits.
In reality, A was heavily indebted—holding nearly ₩700 million in loans from a home mortgage and borrowing from relatives—and had been suffering losses from cryptocurrency trading rather than making gains.
알파경제 Paul Lee 특파원(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
