香港警方破獲利用 Deepfakes 進行 4,600 萬美元加密貨幣投資詐騙的集團

香港一家辦事處遭到突襲搜查，共有 27 名年齡在 21 歲至 34 歲之間的人因涉嫌串謀詐騙而被拘留。

Hong Kong police have shut down a group running a HK$360 million ($46.35 million) cryptocurrency investment scam out of an office in the Hung Hom area of the city.

香港警方查獲了一個在香港紅磡地區的辦公室進行價值 3.6 億港元（4,635 萬美元）的加密貨幣投資詐騙的團夥。

A total of 27 people between the ages of 21 and 34 were taken into custody suspected of conspiracy to defraud and possession of weapons last week, according to a police conference on October 14. Several were graduates in digital media from local universities, while others are believed to have links to local triad groups.

10 月14 日的警方會議顯示，上週共有27 名年齡在21 歲至34 歲之間的人因涉嫌串謀詐騙和持有武器而被拘留。 ，其他人是當地大學的數位媒體畢業生。

In 2023, reported losses from crypto investment frauds hit $3.96 billion globally, up 53% from $2.57 billion in 2022, according to the Internet Crime Complaint Center. The actual figure is likely to be much higher. In Hong Kong alone, scam and fraud cases accounted for 43.9% of all crime reported in the city in the first half of this year.

根據網路犯罪投訴中心的數據，2023 年，全球報告的加密投資詐欺損失達 39.6 億美元，比 2022 年的 25.7 億美元增加了 53%。實際數字可能要高得多。僅在香港，詐騙和詐欺案件就佔該市今年上半年報告的所有犯罪案件的 43.9%。

While such scam centers have been documented in other regions of Southeast Asia, India, Dubai and, more recently, Sri Lanka, the find was rare for Hong Kong.

雖然東南亞其他地區、印度、杜拜以及最近的斯里蘭卡都有此類詐騙中心的記錄，但這種情況在香港卻很少見。

“It is rare to find a cross-border fraud center that is quite large, well-organized, has a careful division of labor, and operates physically in Hong Kong,” said Yiu Wing-kin, superintendent of the New Territories South Crime Headquarters.

新界南罪案總部總監姚永健表示：「在香港很難找到規模龐大、組織嚴密、分工細緻、實體運作的跨境詐騙中心。」。

But while not common, it’s not the only case of scam operations making inroads in the city. At the end of August, police arrested six Malaysians and five local residents involved in a HK$61 million ($7.8 million) phone scam racket. The group had four centers of operation in Hong Kong.

雖然這種情況並不常見，但這並不是該市唯一的詐騙案。 8 月底，警方逮捕了 6 名涉及價值 6,100 萬港元（780 萬美元）的電話詐騙案的馬來西亞人和 5 名當地居民。該集團在香港設有四個營運中心。

Among the items seized in this latest operation were training manuals detailing how scams were conducted. Resembling a typical pig butchering scam, the group contacted victims on social media and tried to strike up a romantic relationship with them. They then persuaded the victims to invest in a fake cryptocurrency platform.

在這次最新行動中查獲的物品包括詳細說明詐騙過程的訓練手冊。類似於典型的殺豬騙局，該團體透過社群媒體聯繫受害者，並試圖與他們建立戀愛關係。然後他們說服受害者投資一個虛假的加密貨幣平台。

Police said that the group collaborated with overseas scam operations and computer experts to design the fake cryptocurrency investment platforms.

警方表示，該團體與海外詐騙集團和電腦專家合作，設計了一個虛假的加密貨幣投資平台。