Hong Kong police said their CyberDefender platform received more than 150 reports of WhatsApp account-hijacking scams over the past two weeks, with total losses exceeding HK$15 million. According to Foresight News, one case involved an employee at a local virtual currency exchange company whose account was hijacked by scammers.

The scammers blocked the original work group and blacklisted its members, then created a fake group copying its images, name, members, and profile picture. Posing as a customer representative, they requested a virtual currency exchange. The employee transferred cryptocurrency to a specified wallet and deducted the amount from the customer’s account, following routine procedures. The fraud was discovered only after the employee noticed the customer’s wallet balance was insufficient and confirmed the situation by phone. The company lost more than HK$4 million.