A 66-year-old Hong Kong retiree misplaced 6.6 million Hong Kong {dollars} (roughly $840,000) in a string of three associated crypto funding scams after repeatedly trusting self-proclaimed “digital foreign money consultants” who reached out by way of WhatsApp, in keeping with Hong Kong police’s CyberDefender unit.
In a March 20 Fb put up, police mentioned the sufferer was first approached in September 2025 by a scammer who chilly messaged, claiming to be a “digital foreign money funding knowledgeable” and promising regular beneficial properties if the sufferer adopted his recommendation. The retiree then transferred $180,000 and deposited crypto right into a pockets the scammer managed, solely to look at him disappear, prompting the submitting of a police report.
The case exhibits how fraudsters can recycle the identical sufferer by way of successive schemes that begin with “assured revenue” pitches and escalate into gives to recuperate funds which have already been stolen.
“Life has no take two; however scams can have take three,” the CyberDefender workforce wrote, warning that real professionals don’t depend on random outreach and that phrases equivalent to “assured returns” and “inside data” are basic pink flags.
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Triple “crypto knowledgeable” rip-off drains retiree’s financial savings
The retiree then transferred $180,000 and deposited crypto right into a pockets the scammer managed, solely to look at him disappear, prompting the sufferer to file a police report.
Unwilling to simply accept the loss, the sufferer later searched on-line for one more “crypto knowledgeable” who claimed he might assist recuperate the lacking funds, however then demanded $75,000 as a safety deposit. After the sufferer paid, that knowledgeable additionally vanished.
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In January, a 3rd supposed specialist messaged the retiree on WhatsApp providing to reclaim each prior losses if the sufferer purchased $585,000 in crypto and despatched it to a specified handle. As soon as the sufferer complied, that scammer disappeared as nicely, bringing the whole losses over roughly six months to roughly $840,000.
Incident falls amid rising Web3 fraud
The case lands towards a broader backdrop of mounting crypto-related crime. Web3 platforms noticed about $3.95 billion in losses in 2025, with state-linked hackers and weak key safety driving a lot of the harm, in keeping with safety agency Hacken.
Authorities worldwide have additionally flagged new waves of phishing and funding fraud, from the FBI’s latest warning over pretend FBI tokens on Tron to India’s GainBitcoin probe and US efforts to forfeit $3.4 million in Tether tied to a multi-state funding rip-off.
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