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Two crypto influencers from Hong Kong are now on the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol)’s Wanted List. The addition to the list comes after Hong Kong police requested a Red Notice from the international organization.
The two men are being charged with theft, fraud, and money laundering and have been previously arrested for their links to the now-collapsed crypto exchange JPEX.
Crypto Influencers On Interpol’s Wanted List
This week, local reports revealed that 30-year-old crypto influencer Wong Ching Kit, also known online as ‘Coin Young Master’, was added to Interpol’s Wanted list alongside Mok Tsun Ting, his 26-year-old accomplice.
Interpol issued the Red Notice on Wednesday following a request from the police, which now puts the two men among the 8 people on the list wanted by Hong Kong authorities.
Wong and Mok's Red Notice. Source: Interpol
According to Interpol’s website, Wong is being charged with one count of fraud and two counts of theft in Hong Kong, while Mok is requested for two money laundering charges.
In 2018, Wong rose to fame after pulling a stunt in the Sham Shui Po area. The influencer threw KH$ 6,000, worth nearly $800, from a building rooftop, causing a frenzy on the street. The sunt resulted in an arrest for being a suspect of “disorderly conduct in public,” but he was later released on bail.
Moreover, the crypto influencers have been involved in fraud allegations since 2019. The local police arrested Wong for a second time for “conspiracy to defraud investors” after being accused of allegedly promoting a crypto mining machine.
Seemingly, the “Coin Young Master” made numerous false claims at seminars and on social media in order to adverstise the machine. Over a dozen people were reported to have lost HK$3 million, worth around $385,000. Wong was also arrested for conspiracy to defraud, and Mok was arrested as a co-conspirator.
Involvement With JPEX Exchange
Last year, the crypto influencers made the headlines for their involvement with the now-collapsed exchange JPEX. Wong was one of the influencers who promoted the crypto exchange.
JPEX was a crypto trading platform that operated in Hong Kong since 2020. Nearly a year ago, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) warned investors that the exchange’s claims of being “a licensed and recognized platform to facilitate the trading of digital asset and virtual currency” were false.
The financial authority also stated that influencers promoted the platform under pretenses and informed us that it had received several complaints about the exchange. The SFC revealed that several retail investors were unable to withdraw their cryptocurrencies from JPEX or have found their balances altered.
The regulatory institution requested Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) to stop promoting the crypto exchange. As a result, Wong deleted all his YouTube videos promoting the platform and stopped promoting it.
However, Mok was arrested in September for his suspected connection with the fraudulent crypto exchange but was later released on bail. As reported by Bitcoinist, former lawyer and influencer Joseph Lam was also arrested by the Hong Kong police for his link with JPEX.
The exchange’s collapse considered the largest fraud case in Hong Kong to date, stole approximately $200 million from over 2,000 victims. As of this writing, 73 people have been arrested for their links to the crypto platform.
Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $67,187 in the five-day chart. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView
Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
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