Two suspects arrested over theft of $1.5 million in Bitcoin stolen from police custody in outrageous blunder — Korean cops left virtual assets stored with a third party, who handed over recovery key to hacker
Source: Tom’s Hardware
Background
South Korean police have arrested two individuals suspected of embezzling 22 Bitcoins from police custody. According to a report by Dong‑A Libo (machine translated), a virtual‑asset company voluntarily surrendered a cold wallet containing the crypto back in 2021 when they requested police assistance with a hacking incident. Police regulations require seized virtual assets to be moved to a cold wallet directly under the control of the local station and stored in a separate vault, but this procedure was not followed in this case. The mishandling allowed the theft to occur.
Investigation
In January 2026, 320 Bitcoins went missing from the Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office, prompting the National Police Agency to audit all virtual assets managed by local police. The audit uncovered the 22 BTC theft at Gangnam Police Station, which authorities believed they still possessed because the cold wallet remained in their custody. The discovery was reported by The Chosun Daily.
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