$47 million Bitcoin disappears from the custody of South Korean prosecutors after a shocking accident

Authorities have not confirmed the exact amount missing, but a local report puts the loss at $47.7 million, possibly stolen after a temporary worker clicked on a phishing link.

The Gwangju Public Prosecutor’s Office recently discovered that the Bitcoin it had seized in a criminal case and stored as part of an investigation was no longer accessible, according to a report by a South Korean news outlet.

It is estimated that losses amount to “hundreds of billions of won,” although the exact figure has not been publicly confirmed.

Bitcoin is missing from government storage

The incident reportedly came to light during a routine internal inspection of seized financial assets, a process that involves checking passwords and keeping access information on removable storage devices such as USB drives. A prosecutor quoted in local reporting said the loss may have occurred after someone accidentally visited a so-called “fake site” while conducting the inspection. This has increased the possibility that the BTC was compromised via a scam link rather than a direct breach of a secure system.

Meanwhile, another local media, ‘The Chosun Daily’, reported that approximately 70 billion won (about $47.7 million) worth of Bitcoin was missing, and that the suspected cause was a phishing attack triggered when a temporary worker visited a fraudulent website. The report stated that the wallet password or access credentials may have been exposed externally, allowing attackers to empty the seized assets.

Authorities are reportedly working to determine the circumstances of the loss and trace the whereabouts of the seized assets, but could not release any details.

Phishing threats persist

Phishing remains one of the most common tactics to steal cryptocurrency, using spoofed websites or messages designed to trick victims into entering sensitive information such as private keys or login credentials. These scams threaten both individual and institutional crypto holders around the world.

Earlier this year, users of Ledger, the prominent French crypto hardware wallet company, were targeted by a phishing scam following a data breach at its e-commerce partner Global-e. After Ledger confirmed that customer contact and order information had been exposed, scammers sent personalized emails claiming a fake merger between Ledger and Trezor.

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The messages instructed users to “migrate” their wallets by entering 24-word recovery phrases on a spoofed site.

In December, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen warned of a rise in phishing attacks using fake Zoom and Microsoft Teams meetings to steal crypto. Hackers send fake links via Telegram or fake Calendly pages and then claim audio or connection issues during calls to trick victims into downloading malware. Chen urged users to verify meeting links, avoid installing software during calls and immediately report suspicious contacts.