South Korean authorities apprehended two individuals for defrauding a senior citizen of 5.5 billion South Korean won ($4.1 million) through false promises of lucrative cryptocurrency investments.

The Haeundae Police Station in Busan, South Korea, arrested a man and a woman in their 20s and 30s for allegedly deceiving a senior citizen and extracting 5.5 billion South Korean won through various transactions.

According to local reports, the victim was lured into making substantial investments in cryptocurrencies between September and December 2022, with promises of high returns.

The scammers guaranteed a 70% profit on a monthly investment of 1 billion won, claiming it was a booming period for cryptocurrency. The police quoted the fraudsters as saying, "If you invest 1 billion won, I will call it 1.7 billion won a month later."

The victim transferred a total of 5.5 billion won in six transactions to the scammers, who then falsified balance certificates to fabricate evidence of the investments.

During the scam, the victim was provided with fake balance sheets for cryptocurrency investments and real estate contracts. Despite these documents showing 20 billion won in cryptocurrency, none of the victim's funds were actually invested in the crypto trading account.

While the fraudsters have been apprehended by the authorities, details regarding the recovery of the funds have not been disclosed to the public.

In other news, Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs and a prominent figure in South Korea's cryptocurrency scene, was reportedly released from prison in Montenegro on March 23. Kwon faces court accusations related to the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in 2022. According to reports, his release followed the conclusion of his sentence for using fraudulent documents.

The decision to release Kwon was reportedly made by the Supreme Court Council, which will also consider extradition requests from the United States and South Korea.

These developments come after four employees of South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinone were indicted for allegedly engaging in illegal practices to profit from coin listings, accruing over $2.26 million in illicit gains from multiple projects.