The prosecution indicted 535 people after investigating 55 cases of crimes that incurred fiscal damage to multiple victims, such as pyramid schemes and fraud involving online messenger-based communities where information on financial product trading are shared.

The investigation by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office with support from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office began in September upon instructions from Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho.

The damage incurred from the crimes amounted to approximately five-point-five trillion won, or around three-point-eight billion U.S. dollars.

A hacker-turned-executive of an information technology company was indicted in detention accused of swindling approximately ten-point-eight billion won from 93 people via a non-fungible token(NFT) trading platform.

Forty-three others involved in a pyramid scheme were indicted after they allegedly took 17-point-five billion won from investors under a false casino investment plan.