Escaped after pumping by 1000x! South Korean police arrest the mastermind behind the meme coin CATFI, leaving 256 victims

South Korea’s Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office has indicted five members of a scam group that operated the meme coin CATFI. After South Korea’s Virtual Asset Protection Act was implemented, this is the first criminal prosecution related to deception involving a decentralized exchange.

On May 27, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office announced that it had arrested and indicted a scam group that manipulated a Solana meme coin, CATFI, and then fled. This is the first DEX scam case handled under South Korea’s “Virtual Asset User Protection Act” after the law took effect in July 2024, resulting in combined losses of about 900 million won (approximately $600,000) for 256 investors. According to Cointelegraph, the main suspect used the identity of “Eth Father” to run the operation on social media.

“Eth Father” impersonates a third-party KOL and pumps CATFI by 1,000x within 26 hours

Prosecutors said that the main suspect, surnamed Park, operated under the name “Eth Father” on social media, claiming to be an independent opinion leader with no relation to CATFI, and recommending that investors buy the meme coin. In reality, he also controlled CATFI’s official social media accounts, inflated follower tracking numbers, and continued to post false positive announcements.

Prosecutors said that the main suspect, together with cooperating collaborators, drove up the price through small trades, causing CATFI to rise by more than 1,000x within 26 hours. At its peak, the market capitalization once reached $8.99 million (in February 2025). The group then distributed their holdings and shut down the project, leaving investors with no way to recover their principal.

South Korea’s “Virtual Asset User Protection Act” takes action for the first time; Seoul Southern District Prosecutes 5 People

The “Virtual Asset Crime Joint Investigation Division” of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office said that, in this case, two people were arrested and indicted in total, another person was indicted without detention, and two people were indicted for assisting the main suspect in fleeing. This is the first case filed under the “fraudulent trading” provisions since the “Virtual Asset User Protection Act” took effect in July 2024.

Prosecutors also emphasized that this is South Korea’s first criminal prosecution targeting a decentralized exchange (DEX) platform. In the past, South Korea’s financial authorities had already established complete registration and supervision processes for centralized exchanges, but there has still been a lack of precedents regarding token manipulation activities on DEXs.

Investors collectively lost 900 million won; the scam group actually gained 400 million won

This case resulted in combined losses of about 900 million won for 256 investors; prosecutors estimated that the scam group actually profited from the case by about 400 million won (approximately $260,000).

By bringing charges under the user protection law, the case is expected to become a reference model for future South Korean cases involving token scams on DEX platforms.

• This article has been reprinted with authorization from: 《Chain News》
• Original title: 《South Korea’s first crypto rugpull indictment: CATFI pumps 1,000x, 256 victims》
• Original author: Elponcrab