A 60-year-old Hong Kong woman met a so-called “investment expert” through a friend-of-a-friend online. She was then led to a fake cryptocurrency investment platform, made multiple transfers, and ultimately lost about 2.7 million.
What’s truly alarming isn’t the amount, but the script:
Stranger online → self-proclaimed expert → fake platform → continued transfers.
Scammers won’t ask you for all your money right away. They first build trust, then offer a “get-rich” entry point, and finally drain your funds little by little through multiple transfers.
With AI now in the picture, the cost of these scams is even lower.
The scammers don’t need one person to manage dozens of victims at the same time. AI can chat with you, pretend to be professional, and maintain the persona—making it easier to scale up the scam.
So the simplest rule to prevent fraud is:
If an investment platform is introduced to you by a stranger, no matter how high the returns are, don’t touch it.
Don’t bet on your judgment not failing—the real way to stop it is to cut off trust before any transfer is made.
What’s truly alarming isn’t the amount, but the script:
Stranger online → self-proclaimed expert → fake platform → continued transfers.
Scammers won’t ask you for all your money right away. They first build trust, then offer a “get-rich” entry point, and finally drain your funds little by little through multiple transfers.
With AI now in the picture, the cost of these scams is even lower.
The scammers don’t need one person to manage dozens of victims at the same time. AI can chat with you, pretend to be professional, and maintain the persona—making it easier to scale up the scam.
So the simplest rule to prevent fraud is:
If an investment platform is introduced to you by a stranger, no matter how high the returns are, don’t touch it.
Don’t bet on your judgment not failing—the real way to stop it is to cut off trust before any transfer is made.