Hong Kong receives over 150 WhatsApp account hijacking fraud cases within two weeks, with crypto-related losses exceeding HK$10 million

WhatsApp account hijacking fraud cases have seen a sharp recent rise in Hong Kong, with a large total involved amount.<p>Over the past two weeks, Hong Kong has received a cumulative total of more than 150 reports of WhatsApp account hijacking fraud, with total involved losses exceeding HK$15 million. Fraudsters steal social account information of ordinary users to carry out subsequent fraudulent operations.</p><p>Among these cases, the WhatsApp account of an employee at a virtual currency exchange firm was hijacked by malicious actors. The scammers fully replicated the name, profile picture, and all member information of the company's real work group, creating a highly realistic fake work group.</p><p>Fraudsters posed as real clients within the fake group to submit cryptocurrency exchange requests, inducing the firm's staff to transfer crypto assets to their designated wallet addresses, ultimately causing this virtual currency exchange company to lose more than HK$4 million.</p><p>These related cases serve as a reminder for practitioners in the crypto industry to strengthen security protection for social accounts, and establish multi-channel transaction verification mechanisms to avoid the risk of asset theft arising from communication relying solely on a single social tool.</p>

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