South Korean YouTuber Accused of Selling Scam Coins Worth $232 Million

South Korean police have detained 215 individuals in connection with an alleged fraud involving an investment company managed by an unnamed video blogger. This was reported by local media.

According to the investigation, from December 2021 to March 2023, the creator of a YouTube channel with 620,000 subscribers operated a fraudulent consulting firm.

Users were encouraged to invest in 28 tokens, including those issued by the company itself, with promises of 20-fold returns. Most of the coins had no real value, and the appearance of rising prices was created through Pump & Dump manipulations.

Victims were selected from the YouTube channel’s audience, who registered for paid lectures and provided contact information. They were persuaded to sell real estate and take out loans to increase their investments.

In total, over 15,000 people were affected by the scheme, handing over at least 325.6 billion won ($232 million) to the company.

Currently, 12 suspects remain in custody, including the blogger, who previously attempted to flee to Australia via Hong Kong and Singapore.

The investigation is ongoing.

Back in October, on-chain analyst SomaXBT accused the blogger MrBeast of promoting scam tokens and earning more than $10 million from them.