The Gangnam police station has lost 22 bitcoins, worth approximately $1.5 million, stored in a cold wallet on a USB device.
According to local news outlet Donga, the Seoul Gangnam police station has lost 22 bitcoins that were seized during an investigation in 2021. Authorities confirmed to The Block that the bitcoins, worth approximately $1.5 million, were transferred from a USB cold wallet without the physical device being stolen.
The bitcoins had been handed over to Gangnam police in November 2021, but the loss went undetected because the investigation had been suspended. A recent internal investigation discovered that the funds had been withdrawn from the wallet, despite the physical USB never being taken.
The Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency has launched an internal investigation to determine the exact circumstances of the loss and verify potential internal involvement. An agency representative declined to comment further on the ongoing investigation.
The loss was discovered during a nationwide inspection of investigative agencies, triggered by the recent loss of 320 seized bitcoins at the Gwangju District Prosecutor’s Office. According to local reports, Gwangju investigators responsible for managing evidence lost the seized bitcoins after mistakenly accessing a phishing website.
