Hong Kong Woman Scammed in Online Romance, Loses Over 5.5 Million Hong Kong Dollars to Cryptocurrency Investment Scam

BlockBeats News, March 24th, Hong Kong police stated on the "Protector" social media platform that in recent months, a 39-year-old local woman met a scammer on a mobile dating app who claimed to be an employee of a new energy company. They then moved to WhatsApp to continue the conversation, which developed into an online romantic relationship. The scammer recommended a fake trading platform to the victim to invest in cryptocurrency to get high returns. In just two months, the victim followed the platform's customer service instructions and transferred over 5.5 million Hong Kong dollars to multiple unknown personal accounts through Faster Payment System. Eventually, the scammer disappeared, and the victim realized she had been deceived.

The police reminded the public to be cautious when making friends online, as scammers often promote investments in precious metals and cryptocurrency. In the past week alone, there have been 15 online romance scam cases involving nearly 10 million Hong Kong dollars in losses.