Korean police seize crypto for unpaid traffic fines in trial

A pilot program that allows police in South Korea to seize cryptocurrency from exchange accounts of people who have been convicted of traffic violations has been implemented by a town near Seoul.

Gunpo is a city in northwestern Gyeonggi, home to approximately 275,000 people. The national government selected Gunpo to carry out the pilot program in 2022. According to an Aug. 16 JoongBoo Ilbo report, the pilot program was intended to collect delinquent money in an “untact” or contactless manner.

It appears that the program was successful at least for the first half 2022. Gunpo police achieved an 88% rate of collection on traffic fines totaling $668,000. This puts the city in a strong position to surpass its goal to collect $759,000 in traffic penalties by the end.

The trial saw an individual subject to crypto seizures of the police for delinquent penalties totaling approximately $759. Crypto seizures are only taken if funds in an individual’s bank account have been exhausted.

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Jungo Ilbo reported the fact that the first half of the fines collected has already exceeded the total annual collections for each of the three previous years.

Law enforcement can extract large fines from the Korean crypto market. It grew to $45.9 Billion in 2021. However, the report didn’t specify which crypto would be seized or sold to pay penalties.