HK police reveal HK$3.5m worth of virtual assets stolen from Binance accounts

Scammers have stolen HK$3.5m worth of virtual assets from HongKongers' Binance accounts using phishing text messages, the Hong Kong police revealed.

According to the official statement stated on CyberDefender's Facebook on 9 October, the police said over the past two weeks, 11 HongKongers reported a HK$3.5m worth of virtual assets had been stolen from their Binance accounts.

The police said scammers had sent out phishing text messages requiring Binance account holders to verify their identities before a certain deadline, otherwise, their accounts would be deactivated. When the users clicked on the attached link and input their personal information, the scammers could then access their account details and passwords. “The scammers then used their account numbers and passwords to transfer the assets out of their wallets,” the police added. 

Police have urged virtual investors to trade using licensed cryptocurrency exchange platforms in Hong Kong for better protection. "Large amounts of virtual assets should also be stored in offline cold wallets such as external storage devices to reduce the risk of hacking attacks," the police added.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Binance for a statement. 

Don't miss: OSL and HashKey approved to operate HK's first licensed crypto exchanges for retail investors

Back in June, the Hong Kong government began accepting applications for licenses from cryptocurrency exchanges that would allow them to sell major tokens including bitcoin and ether to individual traders. In fact, only two local cryptocurrency companies OSL Digital Securities and HashKey Group have been given the green light from the Securities Futures Commission (SFC) to operate Hong Kong’s first licensed cryptocurrency exchanges for retail investors.

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