We've heard about gold farmers tangling with the law before, but this is pretty extreme from initial accounts we've turned up. So while a few of the details coming out of Korea are still a bit hazy, it seems a money laundering operation (working with gold farmers and MMO account thieves) was busted this week while trying to move $38 million between Korea and China. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency stated the operation was headed by a man named Jeong who, with a number of other individuals in Korea, was caught wiring the $38 million in illicit funds. Korean news site dongA reports: "Jeong and his ring reportedly sold the game money illegally produced in China using cheap labor and virus programs. They are believed to have taken a commission of three to five percent of the money traded to purchase game money."
The story comes to use from security-focused site PlayNoEvil, which adds: "Korean police busted the leaders a money laundering group for a Chinese Gold Farming ring (the relationship between the two groups is unclear) which targeted Korean online games. The group smuggled $38 Million over 18 months (!) from Korea to China... Apparently the organization had a pool of IP addresses that made the gold farming group appear to be located at a Korean internet cafe."
In addition to the men arrested in connection with the money laundering, charges have been filed against 11 Korean citizens whose bank accounts were being used by the ring. If any further clarification on the bust becomes available, this post will be updated to reflect that.
