South Korea Illegal Exchange Money Laundering Case: $1 Million USDT Scam Chain Exposed, Regulators Call for Strengthened Stablecoin Oversight

LiquiditySurfer · 2026-01-20T10:02:12+00:00

Daegu District Court in South Korea sentenced a 41-year-old illegal exchange operator to five years in prison for assisting a scam group in laundering $1 million USDT. The case involved covert methods, with scammers disguising their identities to quickly transfer funds and exchange stablecoins to evade freezing measures. The judge emphasized that the defendant did not take compensation measures, prompting legislators to focus on stablecoin regulation.

LiquiditySurfer

2026-01-20 10:02:12

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【Korea Push】The Daegu District Court in South Korea recently sentenced a serious cryptocurrency money laundering case. The 41-year-old head of an illegal exchange was sentenced to five years in prison for assisting overseas scam groups in anti-money laundering activities, involving USDT transfers totaling $1 million. Meanwhile, a 35-year-old employee of the exchange was also sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.

The method used in this case was quite covert. The scam group organized cooperation via Telegram, disguising themselves as law enforcement officials or family members of victims to deceive ordinary users into transferring funds. Once the funds arrived, the criminals immediately exchanged them for stablecoin USDT for transfer, completing the entire process within an hour. Such speed made it impossible for banks’ freezing mechanisms to keep up.

Chief Judge Lee Young-chul characterized this case as a “malicious crime” in the verdict, and specifically pointed out that the defendants took no compensation measures to recover the victims’ losses throughout the process. This drew the attention of South Korea’s legislative body. Legislator Kim Sung-joon subsequently proposed that regulations on assets like stablecoins need to be strengthened to more effectively respond to and prevent such cross-border scam crimes.

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GateUser-40edb63b

· 12h ago

Wash 1 million dollars within an hour, the efficiency is truly amazing... Stablecoins have become a cash machine for criminals.

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UncleLiquidation

· 12h ago

It's truly outrageous to wash 1 million USD within an hour. These exchange people are just accomplices.

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LayerZeroHero

· 12h ago

Complete USDT transfer within one hour... This is the problem with the current stablecoin architecture. There isn't enough time window for risk control to intervene. The actual data shows that transaction speed completely outperforms traditional anti-money laundering mechanisms.

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MidnightSeller

· 12h ago

One hour to clean the transfer, exchanges are really accomplices... USDT's strong liquidity has instead become a tool for money laundering.

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AirdropAutomaton

· 12h ago

It only takes an hour to wash, the efficiency is really amazing... We need to strengthen the trading restrictions on stablecoins. --- It's USDT again, why is it so easy for this coin to be hacked and stolen? --- A million dollars just disappeared, how desperate must the victims be... Exchanges should crack down hard. --- Scammers are really good at playing tricks, disguising themselves as law enforcement agencies is just too unethical. --- Five years in prison still feels light; these people are basically killing others. --- These scam groups on Telegram should be completely banned; there are too many victims. --- Stablecoin transfers with no threshold, this is the aftermath. --- Money laundering completed within an hour, traditional bank freezing mechanisms have completely failed. --- The Korean court's verdict was relatively strict, but it only treats the symptoms, not the root cause. --- This is why regulators have always wanted to control stablecoins; they are too easily abused.

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AirdropHunterWang

· 12h ago

Complete the transfer within an hour? That's incredibly fast. Stablecoins have really become the top choice for money laundering tools. USDT's liquidity is so strong that it's truly a double-edged sword—convenient for legitimate users but also cheap for bad actors. Korea is cracking down hard this time, starting with five years. It seems all countries are beginning to take it seriously. Scam groups now are using a combination of Telegram and USDT, making it hard to defend against. Why don't stablecoins have a cold wallet freezing mechanism? Is it that technically difficult?

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ProposalDetective

· 12h ago

Money laundering within an hour, traditional banks really should reflect on this USDT is so convenient, no wonder scam groups love it Stablecoin regulation should have been on the agenda a long time ago South Korea handed down quite harsh sentences, starting from five years Fraud, money laundering, buying and selling accounts, this chain is indeed very dark To be honest, it's still the lax control of exchanges Can things done within an hour really not be prevented? I've seen this method too many times, USDT has always been the favorite of scam groups

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