A big improve within the variety of monetary losses introduced on by bitcoin scams has been seen in Hong Kong within the yr 2022. Based on experiences from the native police, victims of cryptocurrency scams misplaced a complete of HK$1.7 billion in 2018, marking a 106% improve from the earlier yr. As well as, the variety of incidents of fraud utilizing cryptocurrencies elevated by 67 % from 2021, reaching 2,336 circumstances. Based on the Hong Kong police CyberDefender web site, these scams have been accountable for greater than half of the HK$3.2 billion that was taken from residents of the town because of technological crimes.
The rising utilization of cryptocurrencies has made it more and more troublesome for authorities to hint the origin of monies obtained through criminality. Fraudsters are in a position to conceal their names, transactions, and supreme vacation spot due to the anonymity given by cryptographic forex transactions. Due to this, following the cash path left by criminals has change into more and more troublesome for legislation enforcement.
The Cybersecurity and Expertise Crime Bureau of the Hong Kong Police Power has supplied some insights into the profile of a typical fraudster working within the cryptocurrency trade. These con artists will declare to have intensive data within the monetary markets, notably with regards to crypto property, treasured metals, or international change items. They typically use bait to entice unsuspecting victims into downloading phony investing applications that show fictitious transactions and earnings.
So as to differentiate its strategy to cryptocurrency regulation from China’s whole ban on cryptocurrencies, which will likely be carried out in 2021, the federal government of Hong Kong has gotten actively concerned within the improvement of bitcoin infrastructure. The Securities and Futures Fee of Hong Kong issued a request for public remark in February on the up to date proposed licensing framework for cryptocurrency exchanges, which is scheduled to enter drive starting in June 2023. Regardless of this, it’s nonetheless crucial to train excessive warning whereas investing in cryptocurrencies, as con artists proceed to develop new strategies to abuse the weaknesses of the market.
