South Korea arrests group in first DEX rug pull case
6.6 Security South Korea arrested a group for the CATFI rug pull, the first DEX fraud case under the new crypto law. CATFI surged 1,001x, drew 6,000 investors, and caused 900 million won in losses.
South Korean authorities have arrested and indicted a group accused of orchestrating a rug pull involving the Solana-based meme coin CATFI. This marks the country's first enforcement action against decentralized exchange (DEX) fraud under the new Virtual Asset User Protection Act. The group allegedly created CATFI on Pump.fun in early 2025, listed it on a DEX, and promoted it heavily on social media. They reportedly used wallet splitting and circular trading to disguise their control over the token's supply. CATFI's price surged 1,001 times within 26 hours, attracting around 6,000 investors before collapsing. Prosecutors estimate investor losses at 900 million won across 256 victims, while the perpetrators allegedly profited about 400 million won from an initial investment of 10 million won. The main suspect is said to have posed as an independent influencer to promote the token. This case signals expanded enforcement against crypto fraud in South Korea.
