Hong Kong’s SFC flags suspect platforms disguised as HashKey
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), an independent statutory body that regulates Hong Kong’s securities and futures markets, has alerted investors to 33 suspicious websites which appear to be masquerading as HashKey, one of the Chinese autonomous territory’s first licensed virtual asset exchanges.
Alert list
The regulator flagged the websites by publishing their domain names to its alert list. Hong Kong’s SFC first published its alert list relative to suspicious crypto-related entities in November 2021. In terms of both suspicious trading platforms and suspicious crypto-related web links, the regulator has found 91 instances to date. Remarks added to the listing confirm that a HashKey company, Hash Blockchain Limited, had reported the websites to the regulator as fraudulent websites.
The web domain links have been slightly modified when compared to official links to the HashKey website, in an effort to mislead HashKey customers. A little less than two weeks ago, HashKey published a statement to its website, making service users aware of the fraudulent links and websites. It stated:
“Fraudulent websites will appear under different domain names or with slight modifications or variations of the official HashKey Exchange website address www.hashkey.com by adding a combination of letters, numbers or symbols.”
The company added that it has no connection with these websites, that no affiliation exists with HashKey Exchange, and consequently the company doesn’t accept any liability for any matters relating to these fraudulent websites and links.
As well as the regulator, HashKey has also reported the matter to the Hong Kong Police Force.
Tackling crypto-related fraud
Both law enforcement and regulators in Hong Kong have been more proactive in tackling any signs of crypto-related fraud or potential scams following an episode of fraud involving an unlicensed Dubai-headquartered crypto exchange, JPEX, in 2023.
At that time, the authorities within the Chinese autonomous territory received in excess of 2,369 complaints from Hong Kong residents who had been duped by the unregulated exchange. Overall, victims were out of pocket to the tune of $166 million.
Some commentators had likened the JPEX scandal as being an “FTX moment” for Hong Kong, referring to the high profile collapse of Bahamas-headquartered crypto exchange FTX in November 2022. However, Hong Kong investors also suffered as a result of the FTX collapse.
In fact, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the SFC were listed as FTX creditors in 2023. The statutory bodies appeared on the FTX creditor list alongside 50 Hong Kong institutions.
Towards the end of 2023, the agency issued a public warning regarding HongKongDAO and BitCuped, entities that were accused of misinformation.
In February 2024, the SFC issued a reminder to investors within the Chinese autonomous territory to ensure that they’re only engaging with licensed cryptocurrency platforms. To date, the regulator has awarded crypto trading licenses to seven virtual asset trading platforms (VATPs).
Earlier this month, the regulator extended use of its swift licensing process to all new applicants in an effort to fast-track the approval of more licensed platforms.
