National Tax Service exposes mnemonic code, about 7 billion won in crypto stolen
On 26 February 2026, Korea's National Tax Service exposed a mnemonic code for restoring an electronic wallet in a photo attached to a press release on seized virtual assets. A third party used it to steal cryptocurrency worth around 7 billion won. The National Tax Service apologised for the incident, and police opened an investigation.
Key facts
- Affected organisation
- National Tax Service (NTS)
- Incident type
- Hacking & intrusion
- Occurred / detected
- 2026-02-26
- Scale of damage
- Cryptocurrency worth around 7 billion won
- Cause / method
- A third party used a wallet-recovery mnemonic code exposed in a press release photo
- Location
- South Korea
If your data was exposed
Exposed dataCrypto assets
- Check login and withdrawal history in your exchange app, and turn on withdrawal address whitelisting and withdrawal delays.
- If you’ve suffered harm, report it. Call 118 (no area code) for privacy violations, contact the police for financial losses, and apply for dispute mediation to seek compensation.Personal Information Infringement Report Centre ↗Korean National Police Agency cybercrime report ↗Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee ↗
Lookup and notice links are official pages found by AI. Make sure the address is on the organisation’s official domain before using it.
Timeline
- The National Tax Service exposed a wallet-recovery mnemonic code in a photo attached to a press release on seized virtual assets.
- The National Tax Service apologised for the virtual asset theft, and police have opened an investigation.
1 related reports
Other incidents at National Tax Service (NTS)
National Tax Service official suspended for mass leak of taxpayer data
Impact: Mass leak of taxpayer information
An official at Korea's National Tax Service leaked a large volume of taxpayer information. The official was suspended from duty on 25 June 2026.
Read on Daily NTN ↗
The summary and key facts are written by AI from related reports and may contain errors. Check the original articles and the organisation’s official statements for accurate details.