Seoul Police Arrest Three in $19M Fake XRP Staking Scam

South Korean police have uncovered one of the country’s biggest XRP related crypto scams after arresting three suspects linked to a fake staking platform that promised fixed monthly returns. 

Authorities say the fraud pulled in about 3.4 million XRP from 71 victims, while blockchain tracking shows total wallet flows linked to the operation reached 27.3 billion won (around $19 million).

How the Fake XRP Staking Platform Tricked Investors

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Cyber Investigation Unit, the suspects created a fake website called Fxrpntwork.com between Oct. 16 and Oct. 23, 2025, posing as the legitimate Flare Network and its FXRP ecosystem.

The platform promised investors guaranteed principal protection along with monthly staking returns of 1.5% to 1.8%. 

To make the scheme look real, the group flooded the internet with fake promotional content across Naver blogs, Tistory, Wikipedia pages, online news articles, and YouTube videos, some featuring paid actors pretending to review the platform.

Police said the fraudsters deliberately launched the website around the real FXRP token rollout to make their operation appear legitimate.

Instead of sending XRP directly from domestic exchanges, victims were instructed to move their tokens through overseas exchanges before depositing them into wallets controlled by the scammers. This method helped avoid South Korea’s strict monitoring systems for large crypto transfers.

After collecting approximately 3.4 million XRP, the operators shut down the website and disappeared.

Police Freeze $12 Million, But Part of the Crypto Is Still Missing

The investigation began after an overseas cryptocurrency exchange reported suspicious XRP movements to South Korean authorities.

Using blockchain analysis, IP tracking, domain registration records, and conversation logs, investigators froze about 17.3 billion won ($12 million) in XRP and Tether across several overseas exchanges within three days of receiving the alert.

Authorities are now working through legal procedures to confiscate those assets and return them to victims.

However, police said roughly 10 billion won ($7 million) worth of crypto had already been moved before the freeze and remains missing.

One Suspect On the Run, Faces Interpol Red Notice

Police arrested three suspects, meanwhile, authorities obtained an arrest warrant for a fourth suspect, who is believed to be overseas, and have requested an Interpol Red Notice.

The two main suspects have been referred to prosecutors under South Korea’s Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, while investigators continue executing additional search warrants to identify others involved in promoting the scam and laundering the stolen crypto through OTC traders.