Shinil Group, which is a major South Korean hunting company, has claimed that it has discovered an old sunken ship with a lot of treasure. This sunken ship is a Russian cruiser that was named “Dmitrii Donskoi”, which sunk in the year 1905.
Shinil Group has even shown in a video clip that revealed the hull of the ship. The video even showed how the company made the discovery in just two days. However, the authorities are looking at the reports made by the company, trying to figure out if there could be a possible fraud charge.
The reason why allegations of a fraud case are being put on Shinil Group is because earlier, when the wrecked ship discovery was made, the company claimed that it may contain treasure worth $134 billion. However, at the press conference on July 26, the claimed amount was lowered to just $8.6 billion.
As a result of this allegation, officials have put a travel ban on Choi Yong-Seok, who is the CEO of the discovering company. Also, the Gangseo District Police of Seoul is planning to interrogate him and all the other people associated with this discovery and alleged fraud case.
Another interesting development around this incident is the announcement of the launch of ICO, the company's own Shinil Gold Coin that would be backed by the gold discovered. The private sale of these tokens has already begun. Each of the Shinil Coins will have the value of 10,000 won ($8.9). It is planned to be included in many exchanges within the next few months.
However, the ICO and all the claims that Shinil Group had has met with utter scepticism as various officials within the crypto market think that this could be another scam. One of the many questions raised is why wasn’t the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries of South Korea notified about the salvage rights over the wrecked ship.