Gyeonggi Anti-Corruption Unit Named Lead Investigator in Unlisted Coin Fraud Case With 14 Victims

Fourteen Victims, One Consolidated Probe

South Korea has consolidated its response to an unlisted coin scheme that cost investors their savings, with the National Police Agency naming the anti-corruption economic crime unit of the Gyeonggi Southern Police Agency as the concentrated investigation unit last month, according to Coinreaders. The unit, which had been examining the matter since March this year, now gathers complaints reported from police stations across the country. Fourteen victims have sued the operators on fraud and quasi-deposit charges through Seoul's Songpa Police Station, and those files are expected to move to the Gyeonggi unit. Investigators have asked each station to submit records covering how the victims invested and how much they lost. Police stations had been handling the reports separately, and the designation brings them into one investigative track with dedicated resources.

The complaint traces back to Company A and its affiliate, Company B, which issued two unlisted altcoins, referred to in the record only as D coin and E coin. The firms marketed themselves as operators of a blockchain trading platform built on real-world assets, promising high returns and high dividends. Both companies had already drawn controversy for quasi-deposit activity and for operating without registration, yet neither faced sanctions, and both are still recruiting investors with newly issued coins. One victim, identified only as C, described the aftermath in a phone interview on Wednesday: he put several hundred million won into the tokens, watched the dividends stop and lost his principal. “My life collapsed overnight,” he said, adding that many victims hesitate to sue because the companies tell them complaints have failed before, and some fear a fraud ruling would end what remains of their finances. He said he still cannot explain why he invested, and cannot turn back the clock.

Companies Keep Issuing Coins

D coin and E coin were listed for spot trading on Gopax, a South Korean exchange, until the venue removed them in September 2025 and May 2026, in each case citing investor protection. Prices had peaked near 19,000 won and 32,000 won in 2025, then collapsed by 97.9% and 99.6% from the all-time high after delisting, leaving the tokens worth only a few hundred won. The promised listing on a major overseas exchange, which the companies used to keep holders waiting, never materialized. Victims describe a payout structure that shifted over time: early dividends arrived in cash, later switched to the tokens themselves, began to be skipped repeatedly from last year, and the coins received as dividends lost most of their value.

The regulatory file is longer than the enforcement one. Company A ran its business without registering as a virtual asset service provider, and its partner bank told the firm in April 2025 that deposits would be suspended over the unregistered status. A sought an injunction at the Seoul Central District Court and lost, and after two rounds of appeal the Supreme Court closed the case in November 2025. The court's decision stated that A traded close to 200 billion won of D coin with users in roughly six weeks between January 1 and February 13, 2025. Complaints to the police and the Financial Supervisory Service followed, without result. Songpa Police declined to open a case against Company B in March 2024, and in February this year a civic group's accusation was dismissed for insufficient evidence. The companies then advertised that police had cleared them and released new tokens, and the losses kept growing. C said the pattern pushed investors to put in more money after each early payout, exactly the mechanism investigators now want documented.

The case joins a long record of unregistered Altcoin offerings that ended this way, and the structure itself carried the warning: a fixed dividend promise, a claim of real-economy backing, and no registered operator or liquid market. The DYOR standard exists for exactly this setup, checking registration status and payout sources before money moves, not after. What the record now shows is a split: one national police unit is consolidating files from stations nationwide, Representative Park Sang-hyuk of the Democratic Party is pressing for investor protection language in the Digital Asset Basic Act, and the two companies at the center are still issuing coins. No charge has yet been brought against either firm.