Cryptocurrency companies usually come under pressure from legal departments for the way they work. After the advent of Bitcoin over a decade ago, the industry has always been locked in a battle with authorities around the world.
This time, however, the South Korean police have called upon the services of cryptocurrency exchanges in the country to track ransom money for the infamous ‘Blue House’ incident. Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit, and Coinone are the four exchanges that will directly assist the police.
Four cryptocurrency exchanges said they will do all they might to help track down the 6.5 billion won that was received in the form of payment. The South Korean public has risen in chaos ever since it was announced that a small group of people had access to thousands of illicit sexual content.
Reports claimed that 1.8 million people had signed a petition asking the presidential Blue House to release the identities of the group chat network where the videos were posted.
A majority of the capital was transferred via cryptocurrencies with one confirmed member, Zhao Zhuobin, bagging almost 3.3 billion himself. The rest of the 3.2 billion is yet to be converted into fiat currency. Upbit, Bithumb, Korbit, and Coinone have said that they would also help in tracking the users who transferred the capital to the owner of the chat room.
South Korean Media has said that the Blue House chat room had over 260,000 members, some of which were non paying. The public outcry also resulted in the National Police Agency releasing the culprits’ identity: Cho Joo-bin. He was indicted for allegedly blackmailing at least 74 women, including 16 minors into creating videos of themselves. They were then asked to upload the videos to the chat room, where it was made available to paid members.
According to the South Korean Police his “malicious and repetitive criminal method that forced sexually abusive videos out of women whom he labeled slaves” should never be seen in the country again. The agency added:
“We decided to release his name, age and face after reviewing how it would serve the public interest regarding the people’s right to know and the prevention of similar crimes from recurring“
The accused worked using the alias “Doctor” and posted the videos on Telegram to the exclusive group of people. According to some claims, the accused charged almost $1200 in crypto per person. Essentially, this money was the entry fee for the Telegram group. Min Gap-Ryong, NPA Commissioner-General, acknowledged that the culprit had ruined the lives of several innocent citizens.
Police in South Korea were now on a warpath to uproot such practices from society. Currently, 124 suspects were being tracked down in relation to this case. South Korean police added that 18 people were arrested since last year in relation to sexual-abuse crimes.