South Korea’s Southern Gyeonggi Police Agency said three men in their 50s were arrested on fraud charges in connection with a meme coin scheme that swindled about 6.2 billion won from roughly 120 victims. The suspects allegedly created the meme coin MZS (Member Zone Solutions) and lured investors with promises of large returns.
Investigators say the developers launched MZS within a few hours and listed it on overseas small exchanges. They then sent random SMS messages claiming recipients had won an airdrop, provided free MZS, and urged them to install a crypto wallet. The coin, initially valued at about 0.001 USD (roughly 1.4 won), was marketed domestically at about 100 won per coin under the false claim that a major listing was imminent.
The group operated under a company named Golf Cart Victoria and used six meme coins in the fraud. They offered supposed incentives, such as golf club memberships in Thailand, the Philippines, and Japan, to buyers of large amounts of MZS, though these offers were fraudulent. Earlier, they had used a similar scheme with another coin called GCV (Golf Cart Victoria) to swindle about 5.7 billion won from 129 victims.
The suspects were released on bail after an initial detention, but were re-arrested in connection with the MZS case. The earlier investigation by Hanam Police faced criticism for failing to locate more victims, prompting the higher authorities to take over and identify about 100 additional victims. Police expect further reports since more than 800 people reportedly purchased MZS.
Investigators say victims believed trading was normal because they could see wallets, but the suspects allegedly controlled the wallets and later unlocked lockups to cash out. Authorities plan to continue probing the remaining four meme coins in addition to MZS and GCV.
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