Retired woman in her 60s scammed by "fake tenant" into investing in cryptocurrency, loses over HK$4.5 million

On October 21, according to Huigang Info, the Hong Kong Police announced on the social media platform "Net Guardians" that they had received over 50 reports of investment scams in the past week, involving losses exceeding HK$30 million. Among the cases, a retired woman in her sixties met a man on a property trading platform who claimed to want to rent an apartment. Posing as an "investment expert," he persuaded her to invest in cryptocurrencies. Following his instructions, she visited physical cryptocurrency exchange shops 20 times to purchase Tether (USDT), transferring the funds to an e-wallet designated by the scammer for buying Ethereum (ETH). After successfully withdrawing part of her funds initially, she continued to invest more. When she attempted to cash out again, however, the scammer demanded Tether worth approximately HK$7 million as "tax." Only then did she realize she had been defrauded, ultimately losing over HK$4.5 million.