South Korea creates a Task Force to fight cryptocurrency crime

The South Korean authorities will create a special Task Force to deal with the skyrocketing number of cryptocurrency-related crimes. According to the latest data, the number of criminal cases related to digital assets catapulted to 4591 in 2018 which is a 931% increase from only 53% in 2016.

The newly created Task Force will consist of professional investigators and public prosecutors who will work together to focus on protecting businesses and individuals from frauds related to initial coin offerings (ICOs) and virtual money in general. 

The experts believe that the number of crimes in this domain will continue growing since institutional investors are joining the market and making it more high-value and lucrative for scammers.

"We will disseminate the TF functions and roles through inspection meetings and video surveillance conferences with the heads of relevant departments in the future, and actively respond to crimes that cause widespread damage to ordinary people by examining the situation of investigations,” a Korean prosecutor commented as cited by the local media outlet.

The Task Force will have an authority to track and freeze accounts involved in cryptocurrency-related crimes. What’s more, the Task Force will share the obtained information with local authorities and provide useful insights for future regulation.