South Koreans Paid in Crypto for 'Revenge' Attacks Involving Human Waste, Say Police: Report

Police in South Korea say people are using crypto to pay for intimidation tactics that include vandalizing front doors, leaving threatening messages, and spreading human waste, according to a local news report from Hankyoreh. 

The so-called "private revenge" attacks were reportedly ordered through social messaging app Telegram, with alleged perpetrators paid between $337-$675 or 500,000-1,000,000 South Korean won worth of cryptocurrency—though different suspects in at least three cases spanning back to December claim they do not know who ultimately paid them.

In the latest two events, which have occurred in the last week, individuals identified as “Mr. Lim” and “Mr. K” by the report were arrested and charged by South Korean police. The pair both vandalized the front door of residences and were accused of dropping defamatory leaflets, at least some of which contained the message “I will not leave you alone.”

In Mr. Lim's case, the man, identified to be in his 20s, also scattered food waste and was accused of spreading human waste on a nearby stairwell. The attacks occurred in the Suwon District of South Korea, outside Seoul.

“Police believe that the individuals arrested this time committed the crimes under the direction of a private revenge organization operating on Telegram, and are tracking down their superiors,” the local report reads. 

The recent cases are also under investigation regarding their potential connection to a December 7 vandalization, which also saw the dropping of defamatory leaflets and payments to three individuals via cryptocurrency.

The crypto crime spree follows a recent Bitcoin dispute in South Korea that led to attempted murder charges. According to authorities in that case, an individual laced his business partner’s coffee with methomyl—a banned and toxic insecticide—after the colleague allegedly mismanaged his Bitcoin investments.

The country has also seen regulators recently face scrutiny regarding their inability to find an internal system flaw in crypto exchange Bithumb, which led to the erroneous distribution of up to 2,000 BTC or $137 million to hundreds of customers, instead of 2,000 won ($1.35). All told, Bithumb credited users with $43 billion in Bitcoin, though it realized the mistake within minutes and clawed back most of those funds.

Furthermore, it was recently discovered that police officers from Gangnam Police Station had lost access to $1.4 million worth of Bitcoin more than four years ago. Plus, the nation’s tax service (NTS) publicly shared the seed phrase for three crypto wallets that held $4.8 million worth of tokens at face value in a press release.