The leaders of a South Korean crypto fraud ring that promised victims Rolex watches and free Ethereum (ETH) have been sent to prison.

Money Today said that three people were given jail time at a branch of the Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court for fraud. The court heard that the three of them set up a fake cryptocurrency exchange and tricked people into giving them more than $61,000.

For legal reasons, the people who planned the operation were called “A,” “B,” and “C,” and they were said to be in their 30s. A set up a fake exchange with B, the court heard, and then hired C as a “planning manager.”

C was then given the job of making a public group chat room by pretending to be a normal person who was interested in crypto trading. C then said nice things about the fake exchange without saying that they worked for it. They did this to try to get investors to visit the fake exchange’s website.

C said that the exchange had put out a number of low-profile coins with a lot of growth potential.

The three also planned a “fake” promotional “event.” They told investors that if they bought coins at pre-sale events, they would be entered into a prize draw where they could win “Rolex watches and ETH tokens.”

At least six people who wanted to invest gave the group a total of over $61,000 because of what they said.

During sentencing, the judge said that the defendants “systematically lied” to their victims and “cheated them out of money.”

The news organization said that A, B, and C all appealed the verdict.

South Korea is seeing a rise in crypto-related fraud, and group chats seem to be the new tool of choice.

Police said last week that they had caught the people in charge of a $472,000 crypto fraud ring that used KakaoTalk’s group chat feature to send people to a scam platform. People said that the victims ranged from “crypto-curious beginners” to “housewives.”

https://altcoin.ng/scammers-lure-people-free-eth-and-rolex-watches/