Seoul police have arrested three suspects in an $8.5 million fake XRP staking scam that defrauded 71 investors. The operators impersonated the legitimate Flare Network, promising high returns on a site that ran for one week in October 2025. While authorities have frozen $12 million of the nearly $19 million in total illicit flows, $7 million remains missing. A fourth suspect is a fugitive overseas, subject to an Interpol Red Notice.
Fake XRP staking platform
- ▪The fraudulent platform operated from October 16 to October 23, 2025
- ▪Police believe total losses could be as high as $19 million, based on total wallet flows
- ▪A fake staking website named Fxrpntwork.com impersonated the legitimate Flare Network and its FXRP token
- ▪The scam defrauded 71 investors of 3.4 million XRP, valued at approximately $8.5 million
- ▪The platform promised investors guaranteed principal and monthly returns of 1.5% to 1.8%
Scam operation tactics
- ▪Victims were instructed to transfer XRP through overseas exchanges to evade South Korea's crypto monitoring systems
- ▪The fake website was launched around the time of the real FXRP token rollout to appear more legitimate
- ▪Scammers promoted the fake platform using Naver blogs, online news articles, Wikipedia, and YouTube videos
Asset recovery efforts
- ▪The police investigation began after an overseas cryptocurrency exchange reported suspicious activity
- ▪Police froze approximately 17.3 billion won ($12 million) in XRP and Tether on several overseas exchanges
- ▪Investigators traced a total of 27.3 billion won (about $19 million) through wallets linked to the scammers
- ▪Approximately 10 billion won ($7 million) of the stolen cryptocurrency remains unaccounted for
Suspect arrests
- ▪A Seoul police official stated the force would respond to crypto fraud with a "zero-tolerance policy."
- ▪Seoul police arrested three suspects in connection with the scam
- ▪The arrested suspects include two 29-year-old men and a 34-year-old man who acted as a paid stand-in for promotional videos
International fugitive pursuit
- ▪A fourth suspect, a 29-year-old man, is a fugitive believed to be overseas
- ▪Authorities have obtained an arrest warrant and requested an Interpol Red Notice for the fugitive suspect
Story comments
Loading comments…