Tether Theft on Jeju Island: 6 Arrested in $690,000 Crypto Heist

• Six Chinese suspects arrested in Jeju for stealing 1 billion won ($690,000) during a Tether crypto exchange at a hotel.
• The suspects, claiming to be victims, attacked a crypto dealer after accusing him of making Tether stablecoins “disappear” in the transaction.
• South Korea’s FSC moves forward with tighter crypto regulations, including stablecoins and exchanges, in response to rising digital currency thefts.

Six Chinese citizens were apprehended on 16th January in Jeju Island, South Korea, for masterminding one of the biggest theft cases where a Tether cryptocurrency worth almost 1 billion won or $690,000 was stolen from a hotel. The accused, believed to have attacked a crypto dealer known as A, are said to have stolen the cash meant for the exchange which culminated into a dramatic face off. 

Tether Theft Plot Uncovered

The group, which includes a 40-year-old man identified as B, assaulted A after accusing the dealer of making Tether stablecoins ‘vanish’ in the transaction, the Jeju Western Police said. All the accused in the case are claiming that they were the victims of the assault while the serious charges have been leveled against them. 

They said that the dealer interfered with the barter process, thus they had to take the money as compensation. However, police stated that the group had planned the attack from the start, with their aim to steal the money after they would have transferred the Tether out of the wallet.

Two suspects were detained at the hotel, while three other suspects were arrested at Jeju International Airport. The last of the suspects was arrested at a money transfer service close to the scene. Of the total, the authorities have seized 369 million won in cash from the group and the rest of the stolen money is still being traced. Police are still investigating the events and the extent of the theft as well as the flow of the Tether stablecoins.

FSC Strengthens Crypto Regulations

Testifying before the police, the suspects said that they had intended to trade the Korean won for the Chinese yuan but were convinced by the dealer to settle the deal with Tether. Officials, though, think that the group wanted to steal the money and planned the operation with the help of the digital currency exchange. They believe that they shifted the Tether out from the wallet during the course of the exchange to engage in the hack.

In response to such risks, the South Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) is now developing the second phase of the country’s cryptocurrency regulation to strengthen the consumer protection. Although the details of the new framework are not yet public, the FSC has announced that the upcoming regulation will cover stablecoins, crypto exchanges, and market access, in recognition of the increasing need for regulation in the developing crypto industry.