Exploited trust to embezzle a large sum of money
Sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison with 2-year probation
A woman stole 1.7 billion KRW ($1.4 million) in cryptocurrency from her ex-partner, seemingly out of resentment over their breakup.
On the 13th, the Incheon District Court’s Criminal Division 14 (Chief Judge Ryu Kyung-jin) announced that a woman in her 30s, identified as Ms. A, was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison with a two-year suspension for violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, and for fraud under the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes Act.
Ms. A was in a common-law marriage with Mr. B and was notified of their breakup one day. Upon receiving the breakup notice, Ms. A stole 1.7 billion KRW ($1.4 million) worth of cryptocurrency from Mr. B’s digital wallet.
On November 7 last year, Ms. A invaded the cryptocurrency network system using a desktop PC at her home in Gangnam, Seoul and restored Mr. B’s digital wallet. She then immediately transferred nearly 1.7 billion KRW ($1.4 million) worth of cryptocurrency to a mobile phone registered under a family member’s name.
Earlier last year, at Mr. B’s request, Ms. A kept the seed phrase that could restore his digital wallet, which allowed her to commit the crime. A seed phrase is a random combination of words that prove account ownership. It acts as an ID and password on the blockchain and can only be verified by the account creator.
Ms. A and Mr. B had been in a common-law marriage since the end of 2015 and were known to have been raising two children together.
Regarding the case, the court stated, “Ms. A exploited her trust relationship with Mr. B to seize a large amount of property and failed to reach an agreement.” However, it also noted that “Ms. A committed the crime in anticipation of legal disputes over property division, etc., after the end of her common-law relationship with Mr. B. There are some circumstances that can be partially referred to in her motive or the course of events. The benefits Ms. A seized were also returned to the victim through confiscation or voluntary submission.”
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