Bithumb receives commendation from police for preventing 800 million won in phishing losses

Bithumb said Friday it received a letter of commendation from the Korean National Police Agency for its contributions to preventing phishing-related digital asset losses.

The exchange received the commendation at an MOU signing ceremony held Thursday in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, between the agency's National Investigation Headquarters and cryptocurrency exchanges, aimed at preventing and eradicating phishing crimes.

Since March, Bithumb has operated a system that cross-references information on users who installed malicious apps — provided by the police's integrated response unit — against its own membership database, flagging those individuals as "Caution" targets. The exchange alerted police in real time to 66 users whose transactions showed abnormal patterns, preventing roughly 800 million won (about $523,000) in losses.

In one notable case, Bithumb and police together blocked a transaction by a user who, after being infected by a malicious app, was deceived by an impersonator posing as a government official and attempted to purchase and withdraw approximately 150 million won worth of digital assets. In another case, the exchange detected and stopped a suspicious transfer of 88.9 million won from a newly created account that a financial fraud suspect had opened on a scammer's instructions.

Bithumb currently operates a security system that automatically restricts transactions when a remote-control app is detected while the exchange's app is running. The company is also developing a system that will automatically issue warnings and suspend service access when a malicious app is detected.

"Bithumb has continuously upgraded its security framework to detect phishing site lures and abnormal transactions at an early stage," said Byeon Seung-mu, Bithumb's chief compliance officer. "We will strengthen our user protection capabilities through continued cooperation with the Korean National Police Agency."