Hong Kong police arrest three for allegedly stealing $400,000 worth of USDT and seizing 11,000 fake banknotes.
Three individuals in Hong Kong have been apprehended by the police on suspicion of stealing HK$3.11 million (~$400,000) in Tether (USDT) and seizing nearly 11,000 counterfeit banknotes from their office.
A 44-year-old merchant was purportedly persuaded by the three suspects to convert the USDT.
Before instructing him to transfer his USDT into the scammers’ crypto wallet, they reportedly displayed him bundles of currency that he would receive in return.
Nevertheless, an insider source who spoke to the South China Morning Post stated, “except two genuine banknotes placed at the top and bottom of each bundle, the remaining bills were bogus, classified as training notes.”
The source stated that the merchant requested to inspect the banknotes following the transfer. However, the employees refused to allow him to do so, claiming they had not received instructions from the store manager via phone.
Last Friday, the man reported the incident to the police. The police announced on Monday that they had raided the offices and confiscated 10,978 forged HK$1,000 banknotes.
Watermarks are absent, and the notes appear authentic, although they bear Chinese text that reads “practice coupon.”
A 42-year-old woman, a 24-year-old man, and a 40-year-old man were apprehended and charged with the possession of counterfeit banknotes and the acquisition of property through deception by the police.
Additionally, the three are being investigated for instances of comparable cryptocurrency conversion schemes.
For the illicit use of fake banknotes, they could be sentenced to a maximum of 14 years in prison and a maximum of 10 years in imprisonment if found guilty of obtaining property by deception.
