South Korean police arrested three suspects behind a fake XRP staking scheme that defrauded 71 investors, with criminal proceeds reaching roughly $19 million.

The case shows why the country’s intense retail trading culture attracts increasingly sophisticated crypto fraud.

How the Fake XRP Staking Scheme Worked

Staking involves locking cryptocurrency to secure a network in exchange for rewards. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced Thursday that its cyber unit dismantled an operation exploiting that concept.

Officers charged them with aggravated fraud and violating the Similar Reception Act. Two were taken into custody. The scheme began in October last year. The suspects launched a site branded around FXRP networks, promising monthly returns of 1.5% to 1.8% for staking XRP.

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Those numbers far exceeded what genuine staking services pay. Investigators believe the figures targeted yield-hungry retail investors. The fraud drew power from its timing. Flare Network is a genuine blockchain, and FXRP is a real XRP-linked asset issued by it.

The suspects hijacked those names as the real token launched. Their fake platform mimicked a legitimate service, then vanished within a month. Victims transferred roughly 3.4 million XRP, worth about $8.6 million. Police later determined that the total proceeds neared $19 million.

How Did Police Track the Stolen XRP

Promotion spanned many platforms. The group used Naver blogs, forums, Tistory, articles, Wikipedia entries, and YouTube channels.

According to the authorities, Wikipedia carried a damaging falsehood. Entries claimed FXRP staking could only be accessed through Binance, steering victims toward the fraudulent process. YouTube channels impersonated industry figures. Accounts posing as Upbit developers and Ripple insiders used paid actors to explain remittance methods.

That routing served a purpose. Victims moved XRP via domestic exchanges and overseas platforms before it reached the suspects’ wallets. The detour circumvented South Korea’s Travel Rule, which requires exchanges to verify sender and recipient details on larger transfers.

Police opened their investigation last October after overseas exchanges flagged complaints. Blockchain tracing followed the money across platforms. Speed proved critical. Within three days, authorities froze roughly $12.1 million abroad.

An Interpol red notice targets the main suspect, who remains abroad. Investigators also pursue accomplices who promoted the site.

Why South Korea Attracts These Schemes

South Korea has long been a global stronghold for XRP. Unlike Western markets dominated by Bitcoin, Korean retail traders consistently push XRP atop volume rankings.

Analyst Xaif Crypto reports XRP trading at nearly 4x Bitcoin’s volume across leading Korean platforms. On Upbit, turnover recently reached around $86 million.

That figure reflects how actively the asset changes hands, not how many hold it. Intense participation and deep liquidity create the conditions fraudsters exploit. Local appetite survived turbulence elsewhere. The Kobeissi Letter reported that Korean equities tumbled 44% over 40 days, erasing nearly $2 trillion in market value.

Officials urge caution as similar schemes multiply. Verify staking claims independently, distrust guaranteed monthly returns, and report suspicious platforms immediately.

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Source: BeInCrypto