Over the previous three years, the variety of crimes involving digital belongings in Hong Kong has virtually tripled.
In line with a local media report, Monetary Companies and Treasury Minister Hui Ching-yu mentioned that the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Fee (SFC) prior to now three years (from 2021 to 2023), the overall variety of crimes involving digital belongings was 1,397, 2,336 and three,415 circumstances value 824 million, 1.704 billion and 4.398 billion yuan.
Concerning the variety of folks arrested and prosecuted, the police will solely consolidate the related figures for particular circumstances based mostly on particular person circumstances. For instance, within the JPEX case, police have arrested solely 70 folks, and nobody has but been charged.
As well as, as of Feb. 2 this 12 months, the SFC and the police have shared intelligence on greater than 100 platforms for buying and selling digital belongings or actions associated to digital belongings. The SFC and the police will resolve whether or not a particular investigation into complaints about particular person buying and selling platforms and actions is important based mostly on a basket of things, together with whether or not there’s a connection to Hong Kong, whether or not there are violations of related legal guidelines, the variety of folks concerned and the quantity concerned, and many others.
The rip-off across the JPEX cryptocurrency alternate grew to become the central rip-off of final 12 months in Hong Kong. JPEX suspended operations amid a liquidity disaster, and the SFC launched a big investigation. The police have acquired hundreds of complaints from affected clients, whose complete losses exceeded $152 million.
Authorities have detained eight suspects concerned within the alleged fraud. Regulation enforcement officers have already blocked their accounts for $1.9 million and seized property value $5.6 million.