This week, the General Prosecutor’s Office of South Korea announced the creation of a new task force, which is entrusted with the task of combating and preventing crimes in the field of cryptocurrency. This writes Cryptoglobe , citing the local broadcasting service of the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS).

This step was the response of the authorities to the growing wave of crime in the cryptocurrency space. The activity of the group will, in particular, on the disclosure of fraudulent schemes, the prevention of money laundering, as well as other crimes related to financial technology.

According to KBS, if in 2016 in South Korea, 53 cases of crimes using cryptocurrency were recorded, in 2017, when the market reached historical highs, this figure increased to 453. In 2018, the number of such crimes was already 4591.

It is reported that employees of the task force will be able to track the accounts of persons suspected of illegally receiving funds, although it is not specified how these tools will be used for this. They will also be able to share relevant information with other government agencies, assist in organizing collective claims from investors, and, if necessary, will have the authority to freeze bank accounts.

It should be noted that the crime in the field of cryptocurrency and the desire to protect investors were named among the main reasons that pushed the authorities of South Korea in September 2017 to impose a ban on ICO . However, as the above statistics show, this step is hardly justified.

Earlier this year, a joint initiative in which they would fight off potential money laundering and other fraudulent schemes was announced by South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges – Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Upbit.

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