Crypto fugitive busted in Seoul after tossing cigarette

Police in South Korea have arrested a 60-year-old fugitive behind a $13 million crypto scam after he was stopped for tossing a cigarette butt and tried to bribe his way out of further questioning.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced today that, on Wednesday, authorities stopped a man in Seoul’s Gwanak District after he tried to run away from a cigarette he’d just discarded.

Local outlets report that the man, identified only by his surname “A,” pleaded with police to “let me go just this once” while trying to hail a taxi.

The man refused to give up his ID and told the officers, “I will give you money.”

He then tried to flee the scene and was arrested. After subsequent questioning, investigators discovered that the careless smoker was also behind a 17.7 billion won ($12.6 million) crypto scam that defrauded roughly 1,300 people between 2018 and 2019.