An ordinary Hong Kong housewife lost HK$7.1 million after being cajoled to invest in a fake cryptocurrency trading platform

Stock photo. For illustration only.

A 46-year-old Hong Kong housewife was defrauded of over HK$7.1 million after she was deceived by the scammer to use a fake cryptocurrency trading platform to invest to gain profit, the report said.

The woman reported to the police on Tuesday after she had transferred money into 15 given bank accounts and later realized she had been defrauded after the efforts to contact the suspects were abortive.

According to the source familiar with the case's statements which were reported via SCMP's news platform, one of the scammers conversed with the woman through Instagram in July 2022. And later she was cajoled to invest in cryptocurrency via a link to a bogus trading platform.

Thereafter, she was transferred to another suspect who impersonated a customer service personnel and directed her to transfer more than HK$7.12 million into the given bank account details between August 19, 2022, and March 4, 2023, the report said.

It was learned that the woman did not receive any profit throughout the trading period and realised it was a scam after she could not contact any of the providers and was unable to withdraw her money from the platform.

Police reiterated that the residents should verify the identity of the counterparty before making transactions or remittances and stay vigilant before inputting personal information.

Police reminded that the scameter platform, accessible through the CyberDefender website, helps the public check for suspicious or fraudulent activities. This search engine can help identify suspicious web addresses, emails, platform usernames, bank accounts, mobile phone numbers and IP addresses, police added.

The case had been categorized as obtaining property by deception, an offence punishable by up to 10 years in jail.

The case is being handled by the detectives from the Western District investigation unit and no arrests have been made yet.

香港一名一般家庭主婦被騙投資假加密貨幣交易平台，損失710萬港元

報道稱，一名46歲的香港家庭主婦被騙子欺騙，使用虛假的加密貨幣交易平台進行投資以獲取利潤，被騙超過710萬港元。

這名女子週二向警方報案，此前她已將錢轉入15個指定銀行帳戶，後來在聯繫嫌疑人失敗後意識到自己被騙了。

據《南華早報》新聞平台報道的熟悉該案陳述的消息人士稱，其中一名詐騙者於 2022 年 7 月通過 Instagram 與該女子交談。後來，她通過虛假交易平台的鏈接被誘騙投資加密貨幣。

報道稱，其後，她被轉移給另一名嫌疑人，該嫌疑人冒充客戶服務人員，指示她在2022年8月19日至2023年3月4日期間將超過712萬港元轉入指定的銀行帳戶詳細資料。

據了解，該女子在整個交易期間沒有獲得任何利潤，在無法聯繫任何提供者且無法從平台提取資金後，她意識到這是一個騙局。

警方重申，居民在進行交易或匯款前應核實對方身份，並在輸入個人資訊前保持警惕。

警方提醒，可透過 Cyber​​Defender 網站存取的 scameter 平台可協助民眾檢查可疑或詐欺活動。 警方補充說，該搜尋引擎可以幫助識別可疑的網址、電子郵件、平台用戶名、銀行帳戶、手機號碼和 IP 位址。

該案被歸類為透過欺騙手段獲取財產，最高可判處10年監禁。

案件正由西區調查組偵探處理，目前尚未逮捕任何人。