South Korean police have raided the offices of the sports-themed blockchain platform Winnerz as part of a probe into claims its WNZ token is a “scam coin.”
Per the newspaper Money Today, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s criminal task force announced on April 16 that it had searched and seized evidence from two locations.
South Korean Police Raid Two Addresses
Police said they raided a Winnerz office in Gangnam, Seoul, and the home of the former Winnerz CEO Choi Seung-jeong on April 1.
A court warrant granted police the right to search premises on suspicions of fraud and coercion under the Act on Aggravated Punishment for Specific Economic Crimes.
Several South Korean celebrities, sports stars, and social media personalities have denied links to Choi and Winnerz in recent months.
💥 K-pop Stars Choi Si-won, Cho Hyun-young Deny South Korean ‘Scam Coin’ Involvement
K-pop stars Choi Si-won and Cho Hyun-young have denied allegations that they were involved in promoting so-called South Korean “scam coins.”#CryptoNews #SouthKoreahttps://t.co/XZoy8Se6pJ
— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) February 16, 2024
This followed a viral anonymous post from a group of anonymous investors who accused Winnerz of operating a “multi-level scam” operation on February 2.
The post has sparked controversy about both Winnerz and Choi. It has also reopened controversy over a token named Golden Goal (GDG), which some claim is a “scam coin.”
WNZ has been listed on overseas crypto exchanges. However, several South Korean investors have filed complaints about the token to the regulatory Financial Services Commission (FSC).
The FSC has since passed the case on to the police, the media outlet explained. The police are investigating two other WNZ-related complaints, independent of the FSC’s own request.
Officers reportedly believe that Choi “had previously been in charge of promoting” GDG. The media outlet called GDG “a suspected crypto fraud worth billions of KRW.”
‘Scam Coin’ Controversies Continue
On March 28, police officers arrested the Golden Goal CEO – surnamed Kim – and charged him with fraud-related offenses.
The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office’s Virtual Asset Joint Investigation Unit – the nation’s top anti-crypto crime division – began investigating Choi on related fraud charges late last month.
WNZ prices appear to have taken a tumble on the news.
K-pop stars such as Choi Si-won, of the all-male group Super Junior, and Cho Hyun-young, a former member of the all-female act Rainbow, denied links to the “Winnerz Coin controversy” in mid-February.