Hong Kong residents lose $4.7 million to crypto scammers - Coinfea

Two Hong Kong residents have lost a total of HK$37.6 million ($4.8 million) to scammers after falling for crypto investment scams. In 2025, the Hong Kong Police documented 5,135 online investment fraud incidents. This showed a 30.7% rise compared to 2024.

The report claimed scammers reached about 80.4 percent of victims via social media platforms or messaging apps before the attack. According to local news outlets, a woman in her 50s lost a staggering HK $31 million or USD $3.955 million in a crypto romance scam. The crypto romance scam started with a rental question. A scammer pretending to be a potential tenant contacted the woman, who is a property owner, after she posted a rental ad online.

Hong Kong residents lose funds to scammers

The conversation shifted fast to WhatsApp, where the scammer developed a seemingly romantic bond with the victim to gain her trust. The scammer convinced the woman to invest in crypto. He then sent her URLs that led to fake crypto investment websites. The woman was deceived. She sent millions of Hong Kong dollars several times to personal bank accounts and crypto wallets.

In total, the victim lost a total of HK $31 million or USD $3.955 million in this scam. This was the biggest single loss among over 1,000 similar crypto scam cases last year. year. 1,093 scam cases were reported in 2025 compared to 1,010 in 2024. In a related case, the Hong Kong police, a 66-year-old retiree, lost his entire life savings after he was scammed three times.

The first scam began 6 months ago when the retiree got an unexpected WhatsApp message from someone posing as a crypto “expert”. The scammer promised to teach the victim how to invest with guaranteed profits. The man sent a total of HK $1.4 million ($178,500) to the fake “expert.” He vanished quickly once the crypto was sent to his account. The victim realized the fraud afterward and reported it to the police.

Refusing to accept defeat, the retiree searched online for another “crypto expert” to retrieve his funds. The “expert” consented to assist but demanded a HK $600,000 deposit as security. Trusting him, the retiree sent the money, and the “expert” vanished again. Understanding he was scammed once more, the retiree informed the police. The victim became a known and easy target for crypto scammers.

In January, a new “crypto expert” messaged the retiree on WhatsApp, saying they could recover losses from his past scams if he bought HK $4.6 million of cryptocurrency and sent it to a specific wallet. After he did so, the “expert” vanished. Within half a year, the retiree was scammed three times, losing a combined HK $6.6 million or USD $842,567.

Hong Kong’s CyberDefender police unit fights crypto scams using Scameter, a tool that identifies fake crypto scams with falsely high returns. The tool also tackles other major dangers like phishing and fake NFT sites. The police employ AI to detect suspicious apps and URLs to safeguard investors. The CyberDefender police advise the public to check danger with the Scameter tool before sending money to strangers.