A Hong Kong man in his 70s has lost more than HK$13 million after falling victim to a sophisticated cryptocurrency investment scam. According to reports from crypto.news, the victim was contacted through WhatsApp by a supposed cryptocurrency investment expert from Singapore who introduced him to a fraudulent platform offering favorable exchange rates, low fees, and instant withdrawals. The man opened a cryptocurrency wallet and purchased Tether (USDT) and Ethereum (ETH) before transferring the assets to wallets specified by the scammer through a fraudulent investment application.
Once the funds were transferred, the fraudulent application displayed what appeared to be continuing investment profits, as reported by crypto.news. Seeing his account balance rise inside the app, the victim became less suspicious and continued sending more cryptocurrency to the wallets provided by the scammer. The fraud only became clear when he tried to withdraw his funds and was repeatedly prevented from doing so under different pretexts. By the time the victim realized the investment platform was fraudulent, his losses had exceeded HK$13 million.
According to crypto.news, Hong Kong police have received more than 40 recent investment scam reports involving combined losses exceeding HK$50 million. The latest case follows another incident involving a Hong Kong retiree who lost HK$6.6 million across three cryptocurrency scams after fraudsters approached him while posing as investment experts. In August, a woman reportedly lost around $3.3 million after an online romantic partner directed her to a fraudulent crypto platform displaying supposed returns of more than 800% before withdrawals were blocked.
A separate investigation into the Fun Coffee investment scheme has involved a larger group of victims, as reported by crypto.news. By August 6, police had received 255 reports connected to the Fun Coffee crypto scam, with reported losses reaching approximately HK$104 million. Participants were instructed to download an application, register accounts, and transfer cryptocurrency, primarily USDT, to designated wallet addresses. Investors were offered different deposit plans carrying advertised annual returns of roughly 197% to 278%.
USDT has frequently appeared in crypto investment fraud cases because victims can be instructed to buy the stablecoin before transferring it directly to wallets controlled by scammers, according to crypto.news. A September 4 analysis from the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network linked approximately $12.7 billion in suspicious financial activity to digital asset investment scams. The agency found that scammers used at least 22 digital assets, with proceeds commonly converted into stablecoins and almost exclusively into USDT before being transferred through decentralized finance protocols or overseas exchanges.
