The South Korean police lost Bitcoin that had been seized and stored in a cold wallet since 2021

According to The Block, the Gangnam Police Department in Seoul, South Korea, recently discovered in an internal investigation that 22 bitcoins (currently worth about $1.5 million) seized since November 2021 have been transferred out of a USB cold wallet.

Due to the suspension of the relevant investigation, the asset loss went unnoticed for a long time. The USB device involved was not stolen. The Gyeonggi North Provincial Police Agency has initiated an internal investigation to determine the specifics of the fund loss and whether any internal personnel are involved. The police declined to provide further details on the ongoing investigation.

This discovery stems from a nationwide special inspection of seized property management initiated after the recent incident involving the loss of 320 seized bitcoins by the Gwangju District Prosecutor's Office. Local media reported that evidence management personnel at the Gwangju Prosecutor's Office lost the seized bitcoins due to mistakenly accessing a phishing website.