Investment scams rampant in the dating world, two women collectively defrauded of 760,000 USDT, over 20 million NTD.
The number of cryptocurrency fraud cases continues to rise, with two recent incidents involving investment scams through social relationships. A woman surnamed Lin in her 30s and another woman surnamed Ke in her 40s in northern Taiwan were each defrauded of 30,000 and 460,000 USDT, respectively.
Table of Contents
Woman named Lin loses over 300,000 USDT
According to Apple News Network, Lin received a private message from a non-friend "Xiao Xiong" on Facebook in mid-November last year, chatting under the guise of making friends. After adding each other on LINE, the contact became more frequent. After gaining some trust and believing that Xiao Xiong was genuinely interested in her, in mid-December, Xiao Xiong proposed to Lin to invest in cryptocurrency.
Xiao Xiong emphasized having years of experience in crypto investments, claiming to operate cloud mining. He persuaded Lin to invest money and instructed her to buy Bitcoin on the MAX exchange, then convert it to Tether and store it in imToken. Lin followed Xiao Xiong's instructions to borrow money and invested over 300,000 USDT.
In mid-January, Lin shared her crypto investment experience and Xiao Xiong's photo with a friend, only to realize that Xiao Xiong had used a South Korean internet celebrity's photo. When questioned, Xiao Xiong blocked her, leading Lin to realize she had been scammed.
Woman named Ke scammed out of 460,000 USDT
Another woman in her 40s named Ke, who works in business, met a netizen named "Zhi Hao" through a social app in early September last year. Both had an interest in investment topics, and Zhi Hao instructed Ke to buy USDT with cash at a physical exchange.
Subsequently, Zhi Hao provided a platform called "ZENEX" and emphasized higher returns. Initially, Ke invested only 9,700 USDT, and withdrawals were smooth within a week. She then continued to invest in USDT up to 16 times.
However, when Ke tried to withdraw her profits in early January, the platform, like previous scams, requested her to pay taxes, platform fees, and even claimed to have received a notice from the "Financial Supervisory Commission," stating that Ke's funds were of unknown origin and suspected of money laundering, requiring her to pay 15% of the invested assets as a verification reserve.
It was only then that Ke realized something was wrong, but Zhi Hao had already blocked her, resulting in a loss of approximately 460,000 USDT.
The Criminal Investigation Bureau reminds the public that high profits come with high risks. Do not easily trust investment channels of unknown origins, such as links provided by netizens or unofficial investment advisors. If you have any doubts, please call 165 or 110 for inquiries.