Some Use Money Earned from Coin Arbitrage
The Seoul Main Customs of the Korea Customs Service announced on April 27 that it detected 61 foreigners who illegally purchased apartments in Seoul by investigating 500 persons who bought apartments priced at over 500 million won in Seoul for the past three years with the source of the money unclear.
“A total of 17 out of the 61 bought 16 apartments by illegally raising 17.6 billion won,” the Seoul Main Customs explained, adding, “In addition, 10 illegal foreign exchange transaction groups were detected during the investigation, and they used virtual currencies to buy apartments and take advantage of the so-called kimchi premium in the domestic cryptocurrency market.”
“The money that has been illegally transferred by this method is estimated at no less than 1.4 trillion won,” it went on to say, continuing, “The other 44 non-residents violated the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act by not reporting transaction details to the foreign exchange authorities in purchasing 39 apartments worth a total of 66.4 billion won.”
According to the Seoul Main Customs, the 61 foreigners include 34 Chinese, 19 Americans and two Australians.