Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 13, 2025

HK$387.9 million in cryptocurrency scammed in first half of 2022 in Hong Kong

HK$387.9 million in cryptocurrency scammed in first half of 2022 in Hong Kong

Some HK$1.58 billion swindled through cyber offences in first half of this year, police reveal.

Cryptocurrency scams accounted for a significant portion of the money conned through cybercrimes in Hong Kong in the first half of 2022, police have revealed.

Wilson Fan Chun-yip, acting senior superintendent of the cybersecurity and technology crime bureau, said 10,613 cyber offences involving about HK$1.58 billion (US$201 million) were recorded between January and June. The number marks a 46 per cent increase from the 7,270 cases recorded in the same period last year.

Among these were 798 cryptocurrency-related scams, a 105 per cent increase from the same months in 2021. They involved HK$387.9 million, a 130 per cent increase from the more than HK$170 million cheated in the first half of last year.

In March this year, a 30-year-old woman who runs a currency exchange store that also provides cash-to-cryptocurrency exchange services was cheated of HK$2.2 million. The victim received an anonymous WhatsApp message from someone who claimed to be in charge of an online cryptocurrency trading platform and was looking to collaborate.

“The first four transactions to exchange [cryptocurrency] Tether went smoothly,” Fan said. “The victim received HK$2.7 million, which included payment to her for the exchange service she provided to the scammer. By that point, the scammer gained the victim’s trust.”

In the fifth and final transaction, the victim transferred HK$2.2 million worth of Tether to a designated cryptocurrency wallet as requested by the scammer. She never heard back and subsequently reported the incident to authorities.

According to police, job scams and online shopping traps were the two other notable forms of fraudulent online activity in the city. Together with cryptocurrency-related scams, they made up the top three types of cybercrimes in Hong Kong.

Police officers, including Wilson Fan (second from right), acting senior superintendent of the cybersecurity and technology crime bureau, pose for a media photo.


Job scams have also risen significantly, from 350 cases involving HK$20.3 million in the first half of last year to 1,625 cases involving HKD$211.6 million this year.

In one case, a woman lost over HK$3 million in a scam involving work as a “click farmer” for a movie website.

She received an anonymous message on messaging platform Telegram from someone claiming to be hiring part-time “click farmers”. The term refers to people tasked with clicking on links online to help companies or individuals gain money or influence.

The 48-year-old secretary was told all she needed to do was transfer money to specific accounts to obtain a “mission”, something that was akin to clicking “likes” on a movie website to boost viewership.

Each “mission” would earn her a 1.3 per cent commission on the amount involved, which she would get upon the completion of 45 missions, along with the money she transferred originally. She just needed to start an online account that was linked to her own bank account so she could receive this salary.

Enticed by the offer, she provided her contact information to the scammer behind the con and did as she was told.

“At the beginning, each mission cost only several hundred dollars, and the victim saw an increase in her bank account, so she kept paying for missions without doubting a thing,” said Fan.

As time went by, missions began to cost more. When the victim asked for the return of the money she transferred, the scammer refused, suggesting she had not met the criteria by completing 45 missions.

By her 42nd mission, she had already forked out more than HK$3.5 million, a sum that she had put together by borrowing from family and friends. She realised she had been scammed and went to the police.

Meanwhile, there were more instances of fraudulent activity involving online shopping in the first six months of this year, going up 41 per cent to 3,954 cases. This increase comes even as the amount involved dipped from HK$46 million to HK$36.2 million.

“There was less money involved, but that’s likely because there were fewer cases involving large amounts. But online shopping has become second nature to Hongkongers, especially given the Covid-19 pandemic,” Fan said. “Scammers and unscrupulous sellers are taking advantage of this and infiltrating different social and shopping platforms to scam people out of money or by selling fake products.”

Fan called for consumers to remain vigilant while online shopping, especially when presented with seemingly attractive deals such as discounted theme park tickets or hotel stays.

Of the scams surrounding online shopping, transactions made using the real-name registered Faster Payment System (FPS) made up the biggest proportion, accounting for 66.8 per cent of cases.

Fan noted that scammers can use a foreign identity card to register a store value facility, which can then link to FPS for instant transactions. He reminded people not to sell or give anyone access to their bank accounts, whether in exchange for money or not, under any circumstances.

“In general, we are facing a lot of challenges investigating technology crimes because of the anonymous and cross-border nature of the cases,” he said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
×