based on the materials of the site - By Cryptopolitan_News
A 60-year-old fugitive behind a $13 million crypto scheme was caught in South Korea — all because he threw a cigarette on the street.
He had managed to hide for nearly five years. But his escape ended not with a daring robbery or an international chase, but with him throwing a cigarette on the streets of Seoul.
Seoul Metropolitan Police reported that they stopped the man on Wednesday in the Gwanak district after he discarded a cigarette butt and attempted to flee.
During the interrogation, he refused to show his ID. He offered money to the police and even pleaded, 'Let me go at least this time,' while trying to catch a taxi. He then pretended to talk on the phone and attempted to run away again, but was arrested on the spot.
Soon the police realized that the man, who was only named A, was not just careless with cigarettes. Later, investigators established that he was the mastermind behind a cryptocurrency fraud scheme worth 17.7 billion won (13 million USD), which defrauded about 1300 people from 2018 to 2019.
After the fraud, he disappeared in 2020, but his activities were interrupted this week when he was handed over to the Southern District Prosecutor's Office in Seoul. He was already wanted, and arrest warrants had been issued for him on 10 charges, including fraud and assault.
This is not the first case of a crypto scammer getting caught due to carelessness. In 2012, James Zhong stole 50,000 bitcoins from Silk Road. Today, that amount would be worth over 5.6 billion USD.
Instead of laundering the money properly, he kept the coins in physical wallets hidden in his home. Years later, in 2019, his house was robbed, and when he called the police to report the theft, the tax authorities got involved. Investigators soon established a connection between the assets and the Silk Road hack, and it was all over for Zhong. He was arrested and sentenced to just one year in prison in 2023.
Another notorious case involved the married duo Heather Morgan and Ilia Lichtenstein. They pulled off one of the largest cryptocurrency heists in history but were defeated due to negligence and mistakes.
This couple was linked to the Bitfinex hack in 2016, when 119,000 bitcoins were stolen. Instead of quietly laundering the money, they used fake accounts and conducted transactions, leaving an obvious digital trail.
Morgan made the situation even worse. She created a strange alter ego named 'Razzlekhan,' posting awkward rap videos and showcasing a lavish lifestyle while investigators were already on their trail.
By 2022, they were arrested in New York, claiming access to billions of stolen bitcoins. Lichtenstein confessed to organizing the hack, while Morgan pleaded guilty to money laundering. In 2024, Lichtenstein was sentenced to five years in prison, and Morgan to 18 months. Their case became one of the strangest in cryptocurrency history.
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