South Korea tax agency posts seized wallet phrase and $5 million is stolen
Mar 3rd 2026
Images in an official press release revealed a seized wallet recovery phrase, enabling a thief to drain roughly $5 million and prompting an internal review and promises of tighter controls.
- National Tax Service mistakenly published images showing a seized wallet recovery phrase in a press release, according to reports.
- About $5 million in cryptocurrency was drained from the wallet within hours after the images circulated online.
- Authorities have no clear suspects and recovering funds on the blockchain is difficult without the thief using a regulated exchange, experts say.
- Police say they will strengthen internal controls and staff training after the leak was disclosed.
- The incident follows other reported custody failures by South Korean law enforcement earlier this year involving missing seized bitcoin.