A Hong Kong-based CFO has faced financial losses of HK$17.8 million (US$2.1 million) in a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme. According to local media reports, the 57-year-old woman invested in gold and digital currencies through a fraudulent platform.
Investigative journalists revealed that in March 2023, the victim received a message from a man who introduced himself as a former business partner from Singapore. The victim subsequently engaged in a conversation with the fraudster, who got her to transfer funds to a non-existent platform for investing in #gold and cryptocurrency.
The victim's initial profits amounted to approximately $330,000 from investments purportedly acquired over a three-month period through just ten transactions. These profits were falsely represented to mislead the victim about the legitimacy of the platform. Moreover, the scammers used these returns as bait to induce the victim to invest further, as revealed by an undisclosed source.
The realization of the scam came when the victim attempted to withdraw the funds but was unexpectedly required to pay an "administration fee" of about $130,000. A police report was then filed to deal with the fraudulent activity.
The funds were reportedly diverted to nine bank accounts that had previously been linked to the fraudulent activity. The incident sheds light on the surge in cryptocurrency transactions in #Hong Kong, nearly tripling since 2021, signaling a growing trend of investment in #digital assets in the region.
