Two elderly Hong Kong citizens lost $1.3 million (HK$10 million) in separate fraud cases involving cryptocurrencies and mainland Chinese stocks, the SCMP reported on May 4.
In one case, a 66-year-old businessman was scammed via WhatsApp. Her scammers pretended to be cryptocurrency experts and advised her to invest in Tether (USDT), which promises a sizable return.
A police investigation found that the victim unknowingly provided her personal information to the scammer after filling out an online form. Told. However, hackers have used this form to collect sensitive information from victims.
To gain her trust, scammers gave her HK$75,000 in the first transaction before stealing HK$4.6 million (590 Tether) from her wallet. The funds were stolen from her between January 27th and her March 31st.
investment scam
Meanwhile, another victim, a 71-year-old man, lost HK$5.15 million to investment fraud.
according to reportthe scammers pretended to be employees of a financial investment platform and persuaded them to download a fake trading platform and invest in the stocks of mainland Chinese companies. I sent money.
The person realized he had been scammed when he was unable to access the platform and withdraw his money.
Increase in online fraud
These two cases represent the tip of the iceberg regarding online investment fraud in Hong Kong. According to police, reports of this type of fraud will increase by 92% in 2022 compared to the previous year.
Additionally, the rate of employment fraud in the city has increased, with 196 people losing HK$40 million (over $5 million) to the same scam in the first two weeks of April.
Meanwhile, the prevalence of these scams is forcing authorities to double down on their efforts.Hong Kong is launch An application called Scmeter that helps users determine their risk of fraud.
A post about crypto scammers stealing over $1 million from two senior citizens in Hong Kong first appeared on CryptoSlate.