Some nations world wide suffered greater monetary losses to cryptocurrency scams regardless of a large bear market in 2022.
Losses from crypto scams in Hong Kong amounted to 1.7 billion Hong Kong {dollars} ($216.6 million) final yr, surging 106% from a yr earlier than, in keeping with the native police.
The variety of crypto-related scams reported in Hong Kong in 2022 equaled 2,336 instances, surging 67% from 1,397 instances recorded by police in 2021, the South China Morning Submit reported.
Hong Kong scams involving crypto accounted for greater than 50% of the whole 3.2 billion HKD ($407 million) stolen from metropolis residents in know-how crimes, in keeping with the official knowledge from the Hong Kong police CyberDefender web site. Within the earlier 4 years, on-line scammers bagged an analogous amount of cash or about 3 billion HKD per yr.
All the quantity of know-how crimes in 2022 resulted in almost 23,000 reported instances.
Based on SCMP sources, police witnessed a rise in the usage of cryptocurrency as a medium for on-line scams, with fraudsters with the ability to disguise their identities, transaction stream and ultimate vacation spot. Crypto use in on-line crimes has made the monitoring of prison funds extra sophisticated for enforcement, one insider reportedly mentioned.
Pressure’s cybersecurity and know-how crime bureau additionally shared some observations a few typical crypto-related scammer, describing such perpetrators as pretending to be extremely skilled in investing in crypto belongings, treasured metals or international trade merchandise. Such individuals usually lure victims into putting in fraudulent funding purposes exhibiting pretend transactions and returns, police said.
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The report comes amid the federal government of Hong Kong changing into more and more engaged with the event of cryptocurrency infrastructure, distinguishing its crypto regulation method from China’s blanket crypto ban enforced in 2021. In February, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Fee referred to as for public suggestions on the newly proposed licensing regime for crypto exchanges set to take impact from June 2023.
