Unlicensed Virtual Asset Trading PlatformJPEXThe suspected fraud case has not yet subsided, but the "HOUNAX" virtual currency trading platform fraud case has recently broken out in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Police issued a warning to the public yesterday, saying that fraudsters had infiltrated Facebook or WhatsApp, pretending to be investment experts to "share investment strategies", and luring the public to download the application of the fake investment platform "HOUNAX" to invest in virtual currency.

As reported by Wen Wei Po and Ming Pao, fraudsters will create false transaction records and returns in the victims' investment accounts to lure them into investing more, but they have not been able to redeem the funds afterwards. So far, the police have received 88 cases involving 131 people who claimed that they were unable to withdraw their money after "depositing funds" and were cheated out of a total of $120 million (HK$15.4 million), with the largest single loss being $12 million. Some legislators are of the view that the successive occurrence of fraudulent cases on virtual money platforms has dealt a blow to the confidence in the development of the market, and have criticized the SFC for its ineffective supervision.

Mr. Kong Yuk-fun, a Legislative Council member of the Election Committee Functional Constituency, thinks that, reflecting the fact that the SFC has already grasped the suspicious evidence of the platform at the beginning of this month, and questioned why it still allows the operation of the platform, and it is only after three weeks that the police announced the investigation action, which has resulted in a number of members of the public being cheated, he considers that the SFC is duty-bound to be responsible for this kind of "illogical" supervision.

In the first nine months of this year, Hong Kong recorded a total of 29,650 fraud cases, accounting for 44.4% of the total crime, an increase of more than 51% compared with the same period last year, and the amount of money involved is nearly 5 billion dollars, of which 4,331 cases of investment fraud, an increase of more than double that of the same period last year, 2012 cases, which is the record high.

Superintendent Chan Wai-kee of the Intelligence and Support Division of the Commercial Crime Bureau revealed yesterday when he spoke about the case that "HOUNAX" claimed to be a virtual currency trading platform and claimed to be a Singaporean company, and the phone number is also +65 prefixes, but the platform has been in the police "anti-fraud sighting device" App shows that the suspicion of "there is a ambush".

The police said, first of all, fraudsters will claim to be investment experts, claiming that the rate of return of the virtual currency has 40%. the initial period of opening an account, the fraudsters will create false transaction records and returns, when the victim hopes to redeem the funds, the "manager" on the pretext of refusing or instructing the victim to pay as much as 20% to 80% fees or "verification fee", and ultimately, also can not get back the money.

The investment platform concerned subsequently kicked the victim out of the investment group and suspended the operation of the platform, and the "investment platform manager" also disappeared, before the victim realized that she had fallen into a scam. At present, 131 people, aged between 19 and 78, suspected to have been defrauded reported to the police. A 69-year-old woman was defrauded of $12 million, which is the highest amount of loss, and the total amount of money involved in the scam was more than $110 million.

Mr. Chan said he had asked social media platforms and telecommunication companies to block the Hounax page and website. The police are looking for the fraudsters involved, but have not yet found any connection with the JPEX case.

Source : https://udn.com/

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