South Korea’s National Tax Service (NTS) accidentally revealed the recovery phrase to a seized cryptocurrency wallet, allowing someone to steal millions of dollars in digital assets.
The wallet was taken during raids on 124 wealthy tax evaders. In total, authorities confiscated digital assets worth 8.1 billion won (about $5.6 million). The funds were stored on a Ledger hardware wallet, local media reported.
When the NTS announced the operation, it shared photos of the seized device. However, the pictures also showed a handwritten note containing the wallet’s recovery phrase, which is the secret code that gives full access to the funds. Officials did not hide this information before publishing the images.
Soon after the press release was posted, about 4 million Pre-Retogeum (PRTG) tokens, worth roughly $4.4 million at the time, were moved out of the wallet and sent to a new address.
An Etherscan analysis of on-chain data revealed that the perpetrator first added a small amount of Ethereum (ETH) to the wallet to pay transaction fees. The 4 million PRTG tokens were then moved in three separate transactions.
The tax agency has since deleted the press release. It is not yet clear whether officials have launched an investigation to track where the stolen funds went.