Hong Kong Woman Loses Her Life Savings in a Crypto Scam (Report)

A 55-year-old Hong Kong resident is said to have fallen victim to an online cryptocurrency investment scam and lost her whole assets of almost HK$7 million (nearly $900,000).

Such fraud incidents have recently become extremely common in the region. According to one report, Hong Kong investors lost roughly $50 million owing to crypto schemes in the first half of 2022.

According to a South China Morning Post report, the woman was taken advantage of after a miscreant contacted her on Instagram in January of this year. According to the inquiry, they later began conversing on another messaging service.

After winning her trust, the fraudster suggested her to open an account on an unknown platform to invest in bitcoins for high profits. According to law enforcement, the information supplied on the site about the pricing of digital assets was forged 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,” according to the police.

Between February and the end of March, the offender enticed the victim into transferring HK$6.96 million ($886,600) into 19 specific bank accounts. 

When the woman tried to withdraw some of her money, she was asked to pay a charge. She even attempted to borrow money from her daughter before recognizing she had been duped. 

The Hong Kong retiree sought assistance from the police, who characterized the case as “obtaining property by deception:” a misdemeanor punishable by up to ten years in prison. Nonetheless, no suspects have been apprehended by authorities.

This is not the only significant cryptocurrency fraud in Hong Kong this week. A 44-year-old lady reported to police a few days ago that she lost $3.1 million after investing in the stablecoin Tether (USDT) on a shady marketplace. 

According to data from 2022, there were over 10,000 cyber attacks in Hong Kong between the beginning of January last year and the end of June. 798 of them were crypto-related frauds that robbed investors of roughly $50 million. In comparison, such crime cost $21 million in the first half of 2021. 

According to police, the total number of crypto frauds in China’s special administrative region will have risen to 2,336 by the end of 2022 (67% higher than in 2021). Law enforcement handled 1,884 of the cases.