In recent years, online scams have become more and more rampant, and many scams have infiltrated investment in virtual currency.
In the first 10 months of 2022, the police recorded a total of 1,309 online dating scams involving RMB 578 million, a 20% increase compared to the same period in 2021. In more than half of the cases, the scammers would pretend to be investment experts and trick the victims into making false statements. Investment, especially virtual asset investment, the single largest case was a 50-year-old woman who got a "boyfriend" on Instagram. She was defrauded of 15 million yuan within 3 months, of which 10 million yuan was obtained from a loan.
A similar situation also occurred in online investment fraud cases. The police recorded a total of 1,503 cases at the same time, a sharp increase of 90% year-on-year, and the total amount of assets lost by the victims reached 770 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1.05 times. The number of cases reached 20 million yuan.
According to the police, it was found that the fraud was operated by a group, which would imitate the existing virtual currency trading platform, and would conduct fraud in multiple fields such as online dating, investment, and job hunting at the same time. The defrauded money will be remitted within one day, which will increase the difficulty of police investigation.
Wu Wenqian, Legal Advisor of the Association of Blockchain Compliance Professionals (left), Superintendent Fan Junye of the Cybercrime Division (middle), and Chief Inspector of the Cybercrime Division, Ye Zhuoyu (right).
(Photo by Lin Yingxian)
Catering man loses 180,000 yuan in online "girlfriend" investing in virtual currency
Mr. Li (pseudonym), about 50 years old, is a catering practitioner himself.
He said that at the beginning of September last year, a "lady" added him as a friend on Facebook, and the two then switched to WhatsApp to chat. The other party then claimed to be engaged in computer server-related work in the United States and could obtain information about virtual currency investment. He has made profits many times and invited him to join in the investment to make money.
After repeated lobbying by the other party, he planned to "try a little bit", open an account on a fake virtual currency trading platform "Tidex" website, and transfer money to a local bank account according to the instructions to purchase the stable currency "USDT (Teda currency) ", and then invest in the virtual currency called "Sushi".
In the end, he made 4 transfers totaling 180,000 yuan. The counterfeit platform showed that the first few investments were all profitable, earning US$6,000 to US$7,000 (approximately HK$46,879 to HK$54,692) in half a month, but then the platform showed that, "Sushi" suddenly plummeted by 90%. He "cut out his position" in just 10 minutes and stopped his losses. His deposit on the platform was only US$2,000 (about HK$15,626) from US$30,000 (about HK$234,397).
He applied to the platform to collect the balance at the beginning of December last year, but his account was canceled the next day and he could no longer log in. He finally found out that he had fallen into a scam by mistake and called the police for help.
The number of online love scams dropped but the amount involved rose to HK$578 million
According to the figures of the Police Force, a total of 1,309 online romance scams were recorded in the first 10 months of 2022, a decrease of 4.6% compared to the same period in 2021, but the total loss of victims increased by nearly 100 million yuan to 578 million yuan , an increase of 20%.
Superintendent Fan Junye of the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Investigation Bureau analyzed that the decline in the number of online love scams was not due to the decline in the number of scammers, but because of changes in the scammers' crime methods.
The slight decline in the number of online romance scams is not due to the decline in the number of scammers, but because scammers tend to pretend to be professional investment experts to cheat, and they invest in some virtual and fake products for the purpose of not using With an excuse, the victim is required to remit money, so he needs to win the trust of the victim. In fact, he is investing more time, first of all, he can lobby the victim to send remittances and give money.
Superintendent Fan Chun-yip of Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau
He continued that he noticed that half of the fraudsters pretend to be professional investors, especially investment experts who deal with the proposed assets. Some people enter the fake investment platform to remit and invest, and eventually fall into the "killing pig" scam.
A middle-aged woman was cheated of 15 million yuan, and a 13-year-old boy also lost 7,000 yuan
According to police information, last year’s single largest case, the loss was as high as 15 million yuan. The victim was a woman about 50 years old. In May last year, she met a “man” on Instagram and was tricked into investing in USDT futures. She was then divided into 46 times. Transferred to 30 local accounts. Of the 15 million yuan defrauded, only 5 million yuan was his personal deposit, and the remaining 10 million yuan was obtained from loans.
After 3 months, the victim wanted to get back the investment amount but was delayed many times. He felt that he had fallen into a scam and finally called the police for help.
As for the youngest case, the victim was a 13-year-old boy. In the middle of last year, after Instagram thought a "female student" and the other party claimed that he was poor, he lent 7,000 yuan of savings and transferred it to the other party's bank account , the other party then disappeared.
The number and amount of online investment fraud cases have doubled, involving a total of 770 million yuan
The situation of online investment scams is even more serious. In the first 10 months of last year alone, 1,503 cases were recorded, a surge of 90% compared with the same period last year, which is also the most in the past four years. %, 70% of the relevant cases are related to fictitious investment.
Of the online investment fraud cases received by the police last year, the single largest case involved 20 million yuan, which was 5 million yuan more than the love fraud case.
The female manager was cheated by a fake platform to invest in virtual assets and lost 20 million yuan
The victim is a local woman in her 40s who works as a company manager. She received a call on WhatsApp claiming to be her elementary school classmate, inviting her to invest in virtual assets on a counterfeit platform.
She wanted to get back her deposit at will, but the platform claimed that she had to pay administrative fees, profit tax, etc., and she had to deposit another 15 million yuan. After discussing with her friends, she found out that she had been cheated.
Of the 20 million yuan she was defrauded of, 18 million yuan was personal savings and another 2 million yuan was a loan.
The degree of simulation of the investment platform is extremely high. The wired online waiter guides the victim to open an account or transfer funds to the scammer’s bank account/e-wallet, which will also create a profitable transaction situation, making the victim mistakenly believe that it is making money, so they invest More funds, but when the victim wants to cash out, the relevant platform will use different excuses, including administrative fees, handling fees and fines, to delay the victim's withdrawal of funds, and eventually abscond with the money.
Many victims went bankrupt and even had suicidal tendencies
Fan Junye pointed out that many victims were defrauded of their entire pension or even their life savings. In more serious cases, they would go out to borrow money from relatives and friends or cash out property mortgages. , or have suicidal tendencies, or have not been able to get out of the haze of being deceived for a long time.”
Wu Wenqian, Legal Advisor of the Association of Blockchain Compliance Professionals (left), Superintendent Fan Junye of the Cybercrime Division (middle), and Chief Inspector of the Cybercrime Division, Ye Zhuoyu (right).
(Photo by Lin Yingxian)
Police arrest 589 people for online scams
The police have carried out more than 20 arrests for online fraud in 2022, arresting 589 people, involving 881 fraud cases, involving up to 400 million yuan. The arrested persons include students, housewives, transport workers, clerks, etc., involving From all walks of life, they are suspected of committing online dating, investment, job hunting, online shopping, telephone fraud, etc. Some of them have also lent their personal bank accounts to assist criminal groups in money laundering.
The police investigation found that the relevant syndicate has key members who will also engage in different and similar online fraud activities at the same time.
Fan Junye continued to point out that the police face great challenges in investigating online fraud cases, especially when online crimes are highly cross-border. For cases involving dating and investment platforms, the service providers of the relevant platforms may not be willing to cooperate immediately, or they may not have kept complete information.
He appealed to the public to keep complete records if they make friends or invest online, so as not to be traced if they are cheated in the future.
The police put forward 7 major suggestions for investing in virtual assets:
1/ Beware of investment projects recommended by "Gao Fushuai" or "Bai Fumei" met online
2/ Do not download apps from unknown
sources 3/ Do not trust "insider information" posted on social platforms
4/ Do not transfer your principal Transfer to an account in your personal name
5/ Before investing in virtual assets, you should fully understand the relevant product features and information security risks
6/ Before investing in virtual assets, you should fully understand local regulations and investment risks
7/ Beware of unreasonably high returns actual investment plan
In order to combat crime, the police will hold a "Citywide Cybersecurity" cybersecurity campaign from January to March this year to strengthen crime prevention publicity, including:
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On February 18, the "City Net Guard Carnival" was held in the West Kowloon Cultural District
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In the first quarter of this year, the mobile application version of "Anti-fraud Video Device" was launched
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The publicity vehicle traveled all over the 18 districts in Hong Kong to air the anti-crime message
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Specially designed school lectures for primary and secondary schools to enhance students' digital literacy and understanding of network traps
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Promote anti-fraud messages on major social platforms and online platforms
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