[Coin Scam Trap②] "At least 100x if listed" Seniors flocking to Seolleung Station

[Coin Scam Trap②] "At least 100x if listed" Seniors flocking to Seolleung Station

Investment solicitations using non-existent coins as bait... "This place is different" legal deception

Annual damages in the hundreds of billions of won in blind spots of enforcement

Seolleung Station on Seoul Subway Line 2, known as the 'mecca of multi-level marketing scams'. On the 20th, upon entering a hotel near the station, conversations about virtual asset (coin) investments could be heard from the lobby.

At a corner table in the hotel's cafe, an investment briefing was underway with five middle-aged and elderly people gathered. They claimed that investing in a global company that conducts coin-based payment businesses would result in dividend payments of Coin A, which would soon be listed on a famous exchange.

Middle-aged man B confidently stated, "Nowadays, many people lose money by investing indiscriminately in coins or scam companies, but this place is different. It's a legitimate company certified by the state, so you can earn a lot of money if you invest."

He repeated the word 'legitimate' several times throughout the explanation. He smiled and said, "Coin A, which will be paid as dividends, is confirmed to be listed on a famous virtual asset exchange in July, and it's promised to go up 120 times. How much would it be even if it only went up 100 times?"

When the reporter asked for his business card, he waved his hand and said, "I'm also an investor." When asked why an investor was soliciting investments, he excused himself, saying, "I do get a small referral fee every time I bring someone, but it's definitely not multi-level marketing."

Coin A, which he asserted would "go up more than 100 times," was virtually non-existent, not even searchable on virtual asset information platforms like CoinMarketCap or CoinGecko, which list even unlisted altcoins in Korea.

Although investor sentiment in the virtual asset market has significantly shrunk this year, investment briefings promoting investments in non-existent businesses or assets using coins or blockchain technology as bait were still in full swing around Seolleung Station.

On the 19th and 20th, at hotels, cafes, buildings, and shared offices near Seolleung Station visited by the reporter, briefings encouraging investment in unlisted coins and the like were booming, gathering elderly audiences both in the morning and afternoon.

The types of companies offered as bait varied from virtual asset exchanges to blockchain technology-based startups, but they all shared common characteristics: promising high returns to induce large investments and employing multi-level marketing style sales.

They typically prepared plausible business introduction presentations (PPTs) and sometimes lied about having business agreements with the government or large corporations, using virtual asset industry terms that were difficult for elderly audiences to understand.

In front of a building near Seolleung Station where such investment briefings were held, a signboard warned, 'Beware of illegal multi-level marketing and financial scams,' but the eyes of the seniors entering the building to attend the briefings did not linger on it.

As fraud schemes using virtual assets as bait continue around Seolleung Station and across the country, the annual reported damage amounts to hundreds of billions of won.

According to data submitted by People Power Party lawmaker Park Soo-min's office to the National Police Agency, the damage from illegal virtual asset activities last year amounted to 443 billion won, with 4,058 victims.

Among the types of illegal activities, investment fraud (3,105 cases arrested, 1,474 individuals arrested) and similar receipt/multi-level marketing (252 cases, 187 individuals) were found to be the most common.

Experts analyzed that scammers targeting the retirement funds of the elderly are exploiting the expectations surrounding virtual assets, which have emerged as a new investment asset, and the symbolic significance of Gangnam-gu as an affluent area.

Professor Lee Woong-hyuk of Konkuk University's Department of Police Science explained, "Virtual assets are a vague concept for those who are unfamiliar with them, making them an effective tool for fraud. From the victims' perspective, it becomes easier to be swayed by false information."