Hijacked WhatsApp account costs businessman HK$15 million
AM730 · 2 SOURCESabout 4 hours ago2 MIN
Summary
Hong Kong police said a single verification step could have prevented a major loss after a businessman was cheated out of about HK$15 million in a WhatsApp account hijacking scam. Over the past week, officers received about 50 reports of such cases, with combined losses of nearly HK$20 million. In the largest case, the victim received a WhatsApp message appearing to come from a business partner and was asked to transfer about 2 million USDT to an unknown cryptocurrency wallet. The fraud was uncovered only after a subordinate later checked the transfer request and found that the partner’s WhatsApp account had already been taken over
Key Points
- Police said around 50 WhatsApp account hijacking scams were reported in the past week, with total losses approaching HK$20 million
- In the highest-loss case, a businessman transferred about 2 million USDT, worth roughly HK$15 million, to an unknown wallet.
- The transfer request appeared to come from the victim’s business partner through WhatsApp, leading the victim to believe it was genuine.
- The scam came to light only when a company subordinate asked about the transfer and the victim learned the partner’s account had been hijacked
- Police said scammers first send unsolicited WhatsApp messages about account verification, then redirect targets to a fake customer service chat
Why It Matters
The case shows how a compromised messaging account can turn an ordinary business exchange into a high-value fraud, especially when payment instructions involve cryptocurrency and are not independently verified. Police advice to call and confirm any notice about changed phone numbers or account details is directly relevant to Hong Kong businesses that rely on WhatsApp for daily transactions