Crypto Scam Loses Hong Kong Woman’s Life Savings (Report)
If the police catch the criminal, he or she could go to jail for up to 10 years.
A 55-year-old woman from Hong Kong is said to have lost her total savings of nearly HK$7 million (almost $900,000) to an online cryptocurrency investment scam.
Recently, there have been a lot of cases like this in the area. A study found that crypto plans cost Hong Kong investors about $50 million in the first half of 2022.
“Defrauding Property”
In January, a perpetrator contacted the woman on Instagram, according to the South China Morning Post. According to the probe, they then started talking on another messaging app.
After winning her trust, the scammer suggested her to create an account on an unfamiliar platform to invest in cryptocurrency with high returns. The perpetrator controlled the venue’s digital asset values, according to law enforcement.
“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 said.
The bad guy got the victim to send HK$6.96 million ($886,600) to 19 different bank accounts between February and the end of March.
When the woman tried to get some of her money back, she was told she had to pay a fee. Before she realised she had been scammed, she even tried to take money from her daughter.
The Hong Kong retiree went to the police for help. The police called the case “obtaining property by deception,” which is a crime that can get you up to ten years in jail. Still, the police have not yet caught any of the suspects.
This isn’t the only big crypto scam that happened in Hong Kong this week. A 44-year-old lady reported losing $3.1 million trading in Tether (USDT) on a shady marketplace.
Hong Kong’s Crypto Schemes
Between January and June 2022, Hong Kong saw over 10,000 cyber attacks. 798 of them had to do with cryptocurrencies and took around $50 million from investors. In comparison, this kind of crime cost $21 million in the first half of 2021.
By 2022, China’s special administrative area had 2,336 crypto frauds, 67% more than in 2021. Agents of the law took care of 1 884 of the cases.
