A 55-year-old Hong Kong resident apparently became a victim of an online cryptocurrency investment fraud and lost all of her assets, totaling about $900,000 (HK$7 million).
These fraud crimes have recently increased in frequency in the area. According to a report, cryptocurrency scams cost Hong Kong investors $50 million in the first half of 2022.
The woman was victimized, according to a international news report, after a criminal contacted her on Instagram in January of this year. According to the inquiry, they subsequently began conversing on another messaging platform.
After winning her trust, the con artist suggested that she create an account on a mysterious site in order to invest in cryptocurrencies with the promise of big profits. Law enforcement officials stated that the prices of digital assets provided on the site were false and controlled by the perpetrator.
“She was told she would be paid daily interest of HK$2,500 in addition to a guaranteed profit of tens of thousands of US dollars,” the police stated.
Between February and the end of March, the criminal persuaded the victim to transfer HK$6.96 million ($886,600) into 19 specific bank accounts.
The woman was asked to pay a fee in order to withdraw a portion of her money. Before recognizing she had been a victim of scam, she even tried to borrow money from her daughter.
The police responded to the Hong Kong retiree’s request for assistance by classifying the incident as “obtaining property by deception,” a crime that carries a maximum sentence of ten years in jail. However, no suspects have been detained by the authorities as of yet.
This is not the only significant cryptocurrency fraud in Hong Kong this week. Recently, a 44-year-old lady reported to the authorities that she lost $3.1 million after making an investment in the stablecoin Tether (USDT) on a shady website.
Cryptocurrency Scams Increasing in Hong Kong
Data from 2022 revealed that between the beginning of January of last year and the end of June, there were more than 10,000 cyberattacks in Hong Kong. Of those, 798 included cryptocurrency-related schemes that stole about $50 million from investors. In contrast, damages due to this crime totaled $21 million in the first quarter of 2021.
According to a recent police report, there would be 2,336 cryptocurrency frauds in China’s special administrative area by the end of 2022, a 67% increase over 2021’s instances. Agents from law enforcement handled 1,884 of the cases.
To read our article about “Crypto worth $23 M was compromised due to Bitrue exchange’s hack” click here.
