Hong Kong finance manager loses HK$17.8 million after investing in gold and cryptocurrency via sham platform
- Woman, 57, falls victim after receiving HK$2.6 million ‘profit’ for her initial three months of investment, source says
- Nine of the bank accounts used to collect money from the victim previously associated with other scams and flagged in force’s Scameter database, source adds
A finance manager in Hong Kong has been scammed out of more than HK$17 million (US$2,173,500) while investing in gold and cryptocurrency via a sham trading platform, after falling for a HK$2.6 million “profit” bait, the Post has learned.
The 57-year-old woman received her “profit” for her initial three months of investment through more than 10 transactions transferred into her bank account, a source familiar with the case said on Wednesday.
“The payment was designed to deceive the victim into believing it was a legitimate trading platform, and also used as bait to entice her into making further trades and investing more money,” the insider said.
The woman, who is a finance and administration manager, realised she had been scammed when she was unable to withdraw the money from the trading platform, which was later revealed to be fraudulent. She then filed a police report on Valentine’s Day last week.
She became the target of the scam when she received an Instagram message in March last year from a person claiming to be from Singapore and who had previously been the victim’s business partner. They then continued their communication through the messaging app “Line”.
The woman was tricked into setting up an account on a bogus trading website to invest gold and cryptocurrency, according to the force.
“The victim was coaxed into transferring HK$12.5 million into 29 bank accounts in Hong Kong for her investment in 45 transactions between May last year and February this year,” police said.
