Korea National Tax Service accidentally exposes seed phrase, approximately $4.8 million in seized cryptocurrency stolen

MarsBitNews · 2026-02-27T11:29:43+00:00

The Korean National Tax Service conducted searches on 124 tax evaders and unexpectedly leaked photos containing mnemonic phrases for encrypted hardware wallets. Subsequently, 4 million PRTG tokens were transferred from the wallet, resulting in a loss of approximately 6.4 billion Korean Won (USD 48 million). The thief carried out the transfer through fee-based transactions.

MarsBitNews

2026-02-27 11:29:43

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Mars Finance reports that according to Korea’s “Asia Economy,” the Korean National Tax Service released news footage of a raid on 124 high-net-worth and habitual tax delinquents, which included photos of the scene showing a seized Ledger hardware wallet with its recovery seed phrase visible, with no blurring or censorship. Blockchain data expert Jaewoo Cho (조재우) stated that shortly after the seed phrase was leaked, the 4 million PRTG tokens stored in that wallet were transferred to an unknown wallet early this morning, with an estimated loss of about 6.4 billion Korean won (approximately $4.8 million). Analysis shows that the attacker first deposited a small amount of Ethereum used for transaction fees into the wallet, then transferred all tokens in three separate transactions.

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