Kitten trick costs woman $770,000 in Hong Kong crypto scam

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HONG KONG – A Hong Kong woman trying to adopt a kitten online lost more than US$770,000 (S$1 million) in a crypto ruse, police said, as figures obtained by AFP Friday showed a sharp rise in scams in the city involving digital currencies.

Hong Kong encourages investment in virtual assets to bolster its fintech credentials, but the cryptocurrency’s anonymous nature and lack of regulation make it popular with fraudsters.

Nearly 1,900 scams involving cryptocurrencies were reported to Hong Kong police in the first 10 months of 2022, a significant increase from 494 in the whole of 2020, police told Reuters. AFP.

Losses from these scams also skyrocketed to HK$1.28 billion (S$217 million), from HK$114 million in 2020.

In a recent case, a 58-year-old woman was the victim of an elaborate scam that began with an online acquaintance promising a kitten as a gift, police say.

The woman later learned that the kitten had died while being transported from overseas to Hong Kong and that she was entitled to insurance compensation.

However, she first had to pay an administrative fee to unlock the insurance funds, prompting her to make 40 crypto payments with a collective value of $773,000.

No arrests have yet been made, police told AFP.

Many crypto scams have less to do with technology and rely more on old-fashioned trust tricks or extortion.

Cryptocurrency and NFTs are highly speculative virtual assets, police said, referring to non-fungible tokens.

Caution should be exercised when making relevant transactions and investments.

Hong Kong police also said they launched a platform last September that helps city residents check suspicious websites, email addresses and phone numbers. AFP

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