Hong Kong police have reported that a local insurance agent lost more than HK$26 million ($3.3 million) after falling victim to an online romance investment scam involving a fraudulent digital asset app.
According to an August 30 “Cyber Defender” Facebook post from the Hong Kong Police, the authorities received 25 investment scam cases involving online dating over the past week, with total losses approaching HK$70 million ($8.9 million).
The single biggest loss was suffered by a fifty-something woman in the insurance sector who was victim to a romance scam, an increasingly pervasive crime often linked to the digital asset space.
Romance scams, also referred to as “Pig butchering,” are long-con scams in which fraudsters build a relationship—often romantic or friendly—with a victim over time, then persuade them to invest increasing amounts of money into fake investment schemes. These schemes frequently involve a fraudulent digital asset or trading platform controlled by the scammers and often demand that victims pay in digital assets, which can make funds harder to recover and obscure the identities of the perpetrators, who are often part of organized networks rather than individuals.
This was very much what happened in the cautionary tale outlined by the Hong Kong Police.
Per the report, the victim of the $3.3 million romance scam was introduced to a man in 2025 by a friend. The victim was supposed to discuss insurance with the man, but he claimed he was unfamiliar with the topic, so he introduced her to his “Uncle,” a supposed car trader, who then contacted her via WhatsApp.
The victim’s conversations with the “uncle” developed into an online romance, and all the while “uncle” frequently claimed to be skilled at investing, introduced the victim to digital assets, lured her to download a cryptocurrency investment platform app, and later even introduced an “expert” claiming to be the “platform owner,” who also befriended her and proactively helped the victim manage her e-wallet.
Based on trust and the promise of “high returns”—as of last month, the fake app showed profits on paper exceeding 800%—over the course of half a year, the victim transferred nearly HK$22 million ($2.8 million) to various puppet accounts provided by the scammers. However, when the victim requested a withdrawal, she was refused, and the “uncle” and “expert” instantly broke contact. Ultimately, the woman lost over HK$26 million ($3.3 million).
Using this case as an example, the Hong Kong Police warned that even those with a “professional financial background,” such as insurance, could fall victim to a romance scam, and advised that anyone who suspects an approach should immediately flag it.
Romance scams and crypto, a match made in…
A recent report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), published this July, revealed that the combined losses from scam offenses in East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand reached from $88.3 billion to $114.1 billion in 2025, a figure which the agency claimed: “outstrips the GDP of several countries in the region.”
Investment and romance schemes accounted for a substantial portion of these losses and frequently use the blockchain space to both facilitate fraud and launder proceeds.
According to the UNODC, Southeast Asia was the worst offender, with local law enforcement agencies still lacking the training needed to trace illicit financial activities involving digital assets—a fact that no doubt encouraged the region’s criminals.
“We have to address all the drivers, including prevention and following the money. Seizing criminal proceeds hits these networks where it hurts, and makes potential victims more cautious,” said Delphine Schantz, UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. “To follow the money, in the new crypto context, law enforcement in the region is in need of specialized training to identify, seize and recover these funds.”
International authorities have made some progress in the region, with both the United States and the United Kingdom having recently cracked down on Southeast Asian scam operations.
In April, the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Scam Center Strike Force revealed it had identified $700 million in cryptocurrency alleged to be tied to money laundering from cryptocurrency scams, which was then “restrained” by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Meanwhile, in March, the U.K. government also “stepped up its fight” against Southeast Asian scam centers, targeting the owners and operators of a facility known as “#8 Park,” believed to be Cambodia’s largest scam compound, while also sanctioning Xinbi, one of the largest illicit marketplaces in the region, which provides cryptocurrency-based services to scam centers, including #8 Park.
Unfortunately, just as authorities are starting to get to grips with the area, so too are the scammers upping their toolsets.
A report published this January by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis highlighted how fraudsters and criminals were leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) tools like deepfakes, face-swap software, and advanced language models “to create highly convincing romance and investment scams.”
The firm’s data showed that AI-enabled digital asset scams are highly efficient and extract an average of $3.2 million per operation, making them 4.5 times more profitable than traditional romance scams.
“Our analysis reveals that, on average, scams with on-chain links to AI vendors extract $3.2 million per operation compared to $719,000 for those without an on-chain link — 4.5 times more revenue per scam,” Chainalysis said. “These AI-related operations also demonstrate significantly greater time-weighed efficiency.”
Although it didn’t mention AI, last week’s alert from the Hong Kong Police appeared to confirm that romance scams are still very much a go-to, profitable strategy of international fraudsters, so authorities will also have to up their game.
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