Trading crypto in person is growing increasingly risky in Hong Kong – with a second trader this month robbed by violent criminals after agreeing to swap cash for tokens offline.
According to the South China Morning Post and Apple Daily’s Hong Kong site, the freshest victim ventured to make an offline tether (USDT) deal worth some USD 0.45m in the busy Chong Yip Street.
The media outlets published that a female trader had sold a man USDT in two previous transactions worth around USD 77,000 and USD 90,000 each in previous transactions. She had planned for her uncle to wait outside an office building on the street while she handled the third – much more vital – deal.
But instead, when she met the man for the third time, she experienced the most dangerous of surprises, when she reportedly came face-to-face with a group of three “20- to 30-year-old” robbers armed “with knives and sticks.” The gang robbed her of the cash from the man who had given her in exchange for her USDT 450,000 transfer. The gang didn’t even let her go without taking her mobile phone.
The woman’s uncle said that he saw four men running out of the building and into a delivery van, which then hurried off.
Hong Kong police declared that the attackers struck when the alleged victim was least suspecting it – while she was counting the money the buyer had given her. The police said,
“Soon after [the victim] was handed the money, three men carrying either a knife or a stick rushed out from a room and snatched the money and [her] iPhone at knifepoint.”
The man then overpowered her into an empty office room and locked her inside. Despite that, she was reportedly unhurt when police arrived on the scene.
The nerve-wracking incident happens just days after a 37-year-old male bitcoin (BTC) seller in the equally busy Chai Wan district was locked into a car by a gang of men led by a false buyer. The man was eventually locked in a car – but not before surrendering BTC 15 (around USD 558,000) and his mobile phone to the criminals.
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