Police said on Friday they had received more than 270 reports of losses suffered in the Fun Coffee investment scam so far, with the total amounting to more than HK$113 million.

Individual losses for the victims, aged 32 to 83, were between HK$3,000 and HK$9.63 million.

Investors have been unable to get back money they deposited since the alleged Ponzi scheme’s app went offline in mid-July.

Senior superintendent Kung Hing-fun of the Commercial Crime Bureau said the force has been working with international law enforcement agencies to tackle companies suspected of involvement in fraudulent activities, particularly those claimed to be headquartered elsewhere.

“Apart from intelligence exchanges, we also engaged in joint operations,” she said.

“For example in the Fun Coffee case, actually in Hong Kong we made arrests, but also we have joint operation with Macao police. For this case, apart from the arrests in Hong Kong, we also have arrests in Macao.”

Eight people have been arrested, including two in Macao.

As for a similar case that involved cryptocurrency trading platform JPEX – the city’s largest alleged financial fraud in recent years – the force said 2,800 people had fallen prey so far, with losses surpassing HK$1.6 billion.

Police said since the case came to light in 2023, 81 arrests have been made, with 29 of them charged with offences such as conspiracy to defraud, money laundering, perverting the course of justice, and fraudulently or recklessly induce others to invest in virtual assets.

Kung said many companies that are suspected to be involved in scams would usually make use of celebrities or key opinion leaders (KOLs) to help promote their projects and lure in investors.

She said celebrities could also be held criminally liable.

“There is an offence for people fraudulently and recklessly promoting virtual assets. In the JPEX case, we also for the first time use this offence to prosecute those KOLs [who had] recklessly and fraudulently promoted crypto trading.”

Police reported a total of 20,613 scam cases in the first half of the year, with losses amounting to HK$3.5 billion.

Around one-tenth of the cases, or 2,151, involved investment scams.


Edited by Edmond Fong