Between last June and January this year, she was coaxed into transferring HK$24.5 million into designated bank accounts in 65 transactions, he said.
The Post learned that her investment account showed positive returns and the balance once reached nearly double what she had invested.
According to the force, the woman later tried to withdraw the profits, but was asked to pay an administration fee. She did not pay the fee and later discovered the website was not in operation.
She realised she had been conned when she lost contact with the “expert”. She sought help from police on Tuesday.
Another source said the information such as rising cryptocurrency prices and profits presented in such fraudulent investment websites was fake and controlled by scammers.
He added that positive returns in such accounts were usually designed to coax victims into investing more money.
The police website states: “Initially victims can make small profits, but after putting in more money they end up suffering huge losses. The fraud is also known as the ‘pig-butchering scam’.”
The second source said he believed the bank accounts used to collect the scammed money had been emptied, adding that police were trying to track down the account holders involved.
The case was the latest in a string of cryptocurrency-related scams in recent months, each totalling more than HK$10 million.
An Italian financial consultant was duped out of more than HK$14 million after being tricked by his bogus online lover into investing in cryptocurrency last month.
In February, a 63-year-old investment manager called police after he lost HK$12.8 million in an internet love scam. The money was inherited from his late father.
In that case, the swindler, claiming to be a female cryptocurrency investment expert, also lured the victim into setting up an account on a bogus trading website to invest in virtual coins.
According to police, 2,336 cryptocurrency-related scams were reported in Hong Kong last year – a 67 per cent rise from 1,397 cases logged in 2021. The cases involved about HK$1.7 billion in funds, a 106 per cent increase from the year before.
