Authorities in Hong Kong are warning traders about a fraudulent cryptocurrency being promoted by an X account impersonating Chief Executive John Lee.
The scam involves a Solana-based token falsely marketed as the region’s “National Hong Kong Coin.”
On March 6, Hong Kong lawmaker and crypto advocate Johnny Ng alerted the public about the deceptive account, which has been falsely claiming government involvement in the coin’s launch. Ng firmly dismissed these claims, emphasizing that the government has no connection to the token and urging citizens to remain cautious.
“To be absolutely clear – the government has confirmed this is completely fake and designed to scam people. Please be careful out there and don’t fall for this trick!”
Ng stated in a post.
Using the handle “JohnLeeKa_Chiu”, the fraudulent account announced the token’s launch at 3:00 AM Hong Kong time, describing it as a “strategic step” for Hong Kong’s digital economy. The account further claimed the token would be available for trading on the Solana blockchain. Initially, it set the official launch time for 2:00 PM local time but later delayed it by three hours to 5:00 PM.
Despite being exposed as a scam, the token HKONG was revealed as a scam, experiencing a market cap increase to $215,000 before dropping over 50% to $78,787 according to Pump.fun data. Its promotion received over 162,000 views and 146 reposts, indicating a significant spread of misinformation. The scam was facilitated by an impersonating account that has been active since August 2017 and has held a verified grey checkmark since 2019, which added false credibility.
Notably, Hong Kong is advancing its cryptocurrency sector with new licensing regulations and a focus on tokenization and stablecoins. Lawmaker Johnny Ng has called for the government to intensify pro-crypto initiatives in light of competitive policies from the Trump administration in the U.S., warning that Hong Kong risks losing its position in the global digital asset race if it does not act quickly.
If you want to read more news articles like this, visit DeFi Planet and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and CoinMarketCap Community.
“Take control of your crypto portfolio with MARKETS PRO, DeFi Planet’s suite of analytics tools.”
