South Korean prosecutors have made a stunning Bitcoin recovery, reclaiming roughly $21.4 million worth of the cryptocurrency that was stolen right from their own custody last year.
In a dramatic twist, the hacker behind the theft voluntarily returned 320.8 BTC to the authorities’ wallet this week, local reports confirm.
This major Bitcoin recovery came after prosecutors smartly blocked transactions on centralized exchanges tied to the suspect’s addresses, leaving the thief with few options to cash out.
The whole saga started back in August when investigators from the Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office accidentally fell for a phishing site. They entered sensitive recovery seed phrases, handing over access to the seized Bitcoin originally grabbed during a raid on an illegal gambling operation. The loss was not noticed until December, which prompted an internal probe.
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Thanks to quick action freezing the hacker’s moves across platforms, the pressure mounted until the full amount landed back in official hands on Tuesday. Authorities have now shifted the returned funds to a secure local exchange for safekeeping while they keep hunting for the hacker’s identity, which remains unknown for now.
This high-profile Bitcoin recovery isn’t happening in isolation. It has kicked off a nationwide review of how investigative agencies handle seized digital assets.
Just last week, news broke that the Seoul Gangnam Police Station had mysteriously lost track of 22 BTC sitting untouched in a cold wallet since 2021. The device itself was fine, but the coins were gone, prompting the Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency to launch its own internal investigation into what went wrong and whether anyone inside was involved.
South Korean law enforcement has been accused of negligence after repeated incidents. The urgent need for tighter security protocols is now spotlighted.
