Thai and South Korean police have jointly dismantled a sophisticated $15 million fraud ring known as "Lungo Company," which targeted over 870 South Korean victims through a combination of cryptocurrency schemes, romance scams, and fake lottery offers. The operation involved arrests of 33 individuals, including 25 suspects apprehended by Seoul Metropolitan Police and nine core members, including the ringleader, captured by Thai authorities. All nine are currently in custody in Thailand awaiting extradition to South Korea.
Investigators described the group's activities as multi-layered laundering, using encrypted messaging apps like Telegram and WeChat for coordination. Funds were laundered through prepaid cards, casino cash-outs, and micro-transactions split to evade detection, with high-volume over-the-counter (OTC) brokers in Southeast Asia facilitating final liquidation. A police official noted, "This group systematically used multiple tactics; it wasn't a one-dimensional scam—it was structured and layered."
In related context, the news also confirms a previously undisclosed hack from December 2020, where 127,426 BTC (worth $3.5 billion at the time and nearly $14.5 billion today) were stolen from the Chinese mining pool LuBian. Arkham Intelligence uncovered this as the largest crypto theft ever, though the stolen coins have remained dormant since July 2024, and the thief's identity is unknown.