Hong Kong logs 25 crypto romance scams as trust takes another hit

The Hong Kong law enforcement agencies reportedly received 25 reports of investment scams during the last week of July. The case involved romance and online dating scams duping almost HK$70 million (around US$9 million) in losses.

TRM Labs data shows that the money involved in the illicit activities went up to US$158 billion in 2025. This was a surge of around 145% year-on-year. Investment scams account for a large share of such Financial crimes. It has made it difficult for exchanges, regulators, and crypto firms to regain public trust.

A HK$26 million loss that started with insurance advice

One of the fresh cases mentioned that a woman in her fifties who worked in insurance was introduced to a lady who allegedly wanted to discuss insurance matters with her. However, she was later introduced to a man claiming to be in the automobile business, helping someone with insurance inquiries. Their WhatsApp conversations gradually became romantic.

The man said that he was an experienced investor and convinced her to use a crypto trading application. He then introduced her to a fake platform manager to manage her wallet. After half a year, she gave over 4 million HKD (approx worth $510k) in cash and transferred almost 22 million HKD (approx worth $2.8 million) to the accounts given by the scammers. Her account seemed to yield profits of over 800%.

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