Fake Flare staking site drained 3.4M XRP in a single week

A fraudulent website impersonating Flare Network drained 3.4 million $XRP from 71 investors in South Korea in just eight days last October, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency confirmed on July 30. At the time of the theft, the stolen tokens were worth approximately $8.5 million, though investigators say the full scale of the operation may be far larger.

How the scam worked

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Cyber Investigation Unit, the suspects created a fake website called Fxrpntwork.com between October 16 and October 23, 2025. The group launched the fake website just after the FXRP token launch, exploiting the genuine project's name and early momentum to lend it credibility. Police records show the operators promised guaranteed principal and monthly returns of 1.5% to 1.8%.

To make the scheme look real, the group flooded the internet with fake promotional content across Naver blogs, Tistory, Wikipedia pages, online news articles, and YouTube videos, some featuring paid actors pretending to review the platform. Investors were instructed to withdraw XRP from South Korean exchanges, move funds through overseas trading platforms, and deposit them into wallets controlled by the group. This method helped avoid South Korea's strict monitoring systems for large crypto transfers. Once the funds had accumulated, the site went offline on October 23 and the operators disappeared.

Investigation and arrests

The investigation began after an overseas cryptocurrency exchange reported suspicious XRP movements to South Korean authorities. Investigators traced 27.3 billion won ($18.8 million) through wallets linked to the group and immediately froze 17.3 billion won of those assets on overseas exchanges. Another roughly 10 billion won moved during the probe and remains unaccounted for, which could indicate additional victims beyond the 71 identified.

Two men were detained on aggravated fraud charges and a third accomplice remains at large at an unknown overseas location. Seoul police obtained an arrest warrant and requested an Interpol Red Notice for the fugitive. Authorities are also pursuing a broader cleanup of crypto-related crime in the country. "We will strictly respond to cyber frauds involving cryptocurrency under a zero-tolerance policy," a Seoul police official said, urging investors to verify any investment claims before depositing funds.

Sources:
Benzinga: XRP Scam in South Korea Defrauds Investors of $19 Million
CoinCodex: Fake Flare Network Site Drains $8.5M Worth of XRP
GNCrypto News: Fake Flare Staking Site Stole $8.5M in XRP, Seoul Police Say