South Korean Prosecutors Lose $48 Million Bitcoin in Phishing Attack

South Korean prosecutors suffered a phishing attack, losing Bitcoin worth approximately 70 billion won ($48 million). The incident was uncovered during a routine inspection of confiscated crypto assets by the Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office in the summer of 2025.

The loss occurred due to staff mistakenly accessing a fraudulent website and storing Bitcoin passwords on USB drives, which is below standard security protocols.
A prosecutor official confirmed the loss but withheld details on the exact amount or quantity of Bitcoin lost.
Efforts are being made to recover the lost Bitcoin, though recovery remains challenging once funds are phished.

Legal Context

A recent Supreme Court ruling in South Korea allows for the legal seizure of Bitcoin held on exchanges under the Criminal Procedure Act.
This follows a separate case where 55.6 BTC was seized from a money laundering suspect.
South Korea is developing broader crypto regulations, including plans for crypto ETFs by 2026.

This incident is part of a larger trend of security challenges in the crypto industry:

Global crypto-related thefts in 2025 exceeded $4.04 billion, with phishing and systemic vulnerabilities as primary causes.
PeckShield reported scam-related losses at $1.37 billion in 2025, a 64% increase from the previous year.

Approximately one-third of South Koreans hold crypto accounts at major domestic exchanges.