Victims of alleged fraud cases involving the cryptocurrency trading platform JPEX have called on the government to step up the regulation of investment courses.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, lawmaker Johnny Ng said more than 400 people have approached him for help, saying they’ve been misled by course instructors to invest in the unlicensed platform.

One woman, for example, told reporters that she was talked into investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into JPEX.

"We seriously wanted to learn about cryptocurrency and other related knowledge in those courses, but we never thought those teachers would deceive us," she said.

"From the beginning of the course, they [instructors] have been continuously offering promotional exchanges and then persuading us to deposit money and buy JPEX products. They just keep rolling out new products … and urging us to buy them.”

Ng said some of the victims are considering civil action against organisers of the investment courses.

He added that it is the government’s responsibility to step up the regulation of these courses, saying not enough is being done so far to protect investors.

Police have so far arrested 28 people in connection with JPEX. Losses are reported to total over HK$1.5 billion, with over 2,500 investors affected.