Hong Kong Police Arrests 27 Individuals Linked to $46M Crypto Romance Scam

Hong Kong police have arrested scammers who orchestrated a sophisticated crypto romance scam that defrauded victims of $46 million.

The bad actors targeted men across multiple countries, leveraging advanced deepfake technology to execute a cross-border cryptocurrency-related romance scam.

Hong Kong Police Dismantles Scam Empire

According to a local news report, the fraud syndicate ran a well-organized, large-scale scam center in Hong Kong. Their operations were uncovered in a raid on a Hung Hom industrial unit.

The authorities arrested 27 individuals aged between 21 and 34, many of whom were recent university graduates specializing in digital media.

They used deepfake technology to create compelling personas that appealed to their victims, like fake online profiles featuring AI-generated photos of attractive women.

With this, they initiated and fostered romantic relationships with unsuspecting men across Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, India, and Singapore.

Leveraging AI-based “deepfake” technology, they held video chats and manipulated both the appearances and voices to match the idealized images that victims believed to be their romantic partners.

Over time, victims were coaxed into investing in fake cryptocurrency platforms, believing they were participating in lucrative financial opportunities.

The criminal organization went to great lengths to maintain the illusion of authenticity, such as distributing training manuals in both English and Chinese to the group’s members, which provided detailed instructions on how to cultivate trust with victims.

When the victims realized the truth, their investments were long gone. In addition to charges of conspiracy to defraud, the 27 individuals arrested were also charged with possession of offensive weapons.

The Rise in Romance Scam

Romance scams, also called pig butchering scams, involve scammers posing as love interests to gain someone’s trust. They eventually convince their victims to invest in fake cryptocurrency investments promising lucrative returns, then vanish with the money.

Notably, this crypto romance scam is rising more than ever. This incident shows that AI is helping scammers pull off more convincing schemes. An earlier study led by University of Texas finance professor John Griffin revealed that romance scams have caused over $75 billion in losses from January 2020 to February 2024.