Hong Kong’s police power has raised the alarm after 11 Hong Kong-based Binance clients had been focused in a wave of phishing scams despatched via textual content messages.
Hong Kong police warned customers of the rip-off in an Oct. 9 put up to its Fb web page dubbed “CyberDefender.”
“Lately, fraudsters posing as Binance despatched textual content messages claiming that customers should click on the hyperlink within the message to confirm their identification particulars earlier than a deadline, in any other case their account can be deactivated.”
Watch out for scammers. Keep #SAFU! pic.twitter.com/XZMDMKkBJf
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) October 9, 2023
Police mentioned that when customers clicked the hyperlink and supposedly “verified” their private particulars, hackers had been then capable of achieve full entry to their Binance accounts, the place they proceeded to steal all the belongings contained throughout the customers’ wallets.
Based on the put up, the phishing scheme has seen 11 Hong Kong-based Binance clients report mixed losses of greater than $446,000 (3.5 million Hong Kong {dollars}) within the final two weeks.
The police have requested any customers who consider that they’ve acquired a probably fraudulent message to log the suspicious messages on the “fraud prevention” part of its official web site.
Moreover, the police displayed a hyperlink to a newly revealed record of verified digital asset buying and selling platforms, offered by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Fee (SFC).
At the moment, solely two cryptocurrency exchanges — HashKey and OSL — are totally licensed for retail funding functions in Hong Kong.
Associated: Hong Kong police, regulator kind crypto activity power as JPEX saga unfolds
Established in Could, CyberDefender is a undertaking launched by the Cyber Safety and Expertise Crime Bureau of the Hong Kong Police Power, geared toward rising native citizen’s consciousness of on-line safety dangers.
Hong Kong police unveil ‘CyberDefender’ metaverse platform to fight rising digital crimes. https://t.co/xyqa0iWQxf
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) Could 28, 2023
In the meantime, Hong Kong crypto traders have been hit arduous by scams and fraudulent exercise in latest weeks, with the latest JPEX crypto alternate scandal ballooning to an estimated $180 million in losses and greater than 2,300 Hong Kong-based traders submitting complaints with native police.
JPEX was an unlicensed cryptocurrency alternate that allegedly lured in Hong Kong residents with flashy promoting and “suspiciously” excessive returns on its lending merchandise. The alternate ratcheted up charges on withdrawals from its platform on Sept. 15, rendering funds inaccessible to its customers.
Following the scandal, which has been described as the biggest monetary fraud ever to hit Hong Kong, the SFC introduced that it will publish an inventory of each totally licensed and “suspicious” crypto platforms in a bid to fight potential fraud.
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