Hong Kong police called to crypto store after woman scammed out of HK$93,000 of Tether

   Hong Kong police were called to a cryptocurrency exchange store in Mong Kok on Saturday after a woman said she had been scammed out of about HK$93,000 (US$11,970) worth of virtual currency by a man she met online. A source said the 26-year-old woman had met a man on social media who claimed he could cash out the digital currency Tether, or USDT, to Hong Kong dollars for her. The insider said the victim visited the store at 1pm, transferring 12,000 Tether, or about HK$93,660, to a cryptocurrency wallet. The man told the victim to stay at the shop until his associate arrived with her money in cash, according to the source. Nobody had returned by 3.55pm, prompting her to contact the force. Police have listed the case as obtaining property by deception. No arrests have been made. The Mong Kok district crime division is handling the investigation. The source added police were hunting for a short-haired man of about 30 years of age who was around 1.8 metres tall with a stout build. Anyone convicted of fraud in Hong Kong is liable to face a maximum of 14 years in prison. The victim said she had been monitoring the cryptocurrency exchange store on social media since August and only decided to proceed with the transaction recently after deciding it was trustworthy. “Because there are too many scammers out there, I decided to wait and see. I came down today to try the transaction, but as it turns out, it was just a scam,” she told local media. She said she called the company behind the social media account, only to be informed it did not operate the store.