Woman loses $12K in Hong Kong crypto scam

A Hong Kong woman has reported a cryptocurrency scam after losing HK$93,000 ($12,000) in Tether (CRYPTO:USDT) through a fraudulent exchange transaction. 

The incident took place at an exchange shop in Mong Kok, where the victim had arranged to exchange her digital assets for cash. 

The scam unfolded after a man contacted her online, promising to facilitate the cash exchange. 

According to local reports, the victim, aged 26, was instructed by the scammer to send 12,000 USDT to a designated wallet. 

The man then advised her to wait at the shop for his associate to deliver the cash. 

After waiting for over two hours without anyone showing up, she realised she had been scammed and reached out to law enforcement. 

Police have classified the case as “obtaining property by deception” and handed it over to the Mong Kok district crime division for investigation. 

The authorities are currently searching for a suspect described as a heavyset man, approximately 30 years old and 1.8 meters tall. 

The victim revealed that she had been following the exchange shop’s social media account since August to assess its credibility before deciding to proceed with the transaction. 

“Because there are too many scammers out there, I decided to wait and see. I came down today to try the transaction, but as it turns out, it was just a scam,” she said. 

After the scam, the woman contacted the company associated with the social media account and discovered that they had no connection to the store where the transaction took place. 

This revelation confirmed that the shop was not affiliated with the exchange she had been following, exposing the fraudulent setup.