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 specialists” who reached out by way of WhatsApp, based on Hong Kong police’s CyberDefender unit.
In a March 20 Fb publish, police stated the sufferer was first approached in September 2025 by a scammer who chilly messaged, claiming to be a “digital foreign money funding professional” and promising regular positive aspects if the sufferer adopted his recommendation. The retiree then transferred $180,000 and deposited crypto right into a pockets the scammer managed, solely to observe him disappear, prompting the submitting of a police report.
The case reveals how fraudsters can recycle the identical sufferer by successive schemes that begin with “assured revenue” pitches and escalate into gives to get better funds which have already been stolen.
“Life has no take two; however scams can have take three,” the CyberDefender staff wrote, warning that real professionals don’t depend on random outreach and that phrases reminiscent of “assured returns” and “inside info” are basic purple flags.
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Triple “crypto professional” 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 observe 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 professional” who claimed he may assist get better the lacking funds, however then demanded $75,000 as a safety deposit. After the sufferer paid, that professional 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 deal with. As soon as the sufferer complied, that scammer disappeared as nicely, bringing the overall 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 injury, based on safety agency Hacken.
Authorities worldwide have additionally flagged new waves of phishing and funding fraud, from the FBI’s latest warning over faux 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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