Fake Post article featuring Stephen Chow promotes online financial trading tool
Police in Jilin say criminal group used mainland bank accounts to receive funds, which were then spent on virtual assets to launder the money
For at least the second time in two weeks, a fictitious article with the appearance of a Post news story has circulated on social media with the aim of promoting an online financial trading tool.
The fake article, hosted on a website not associated with the Post, features excerpts of a fictitious interview with renowned Hong Kong filmmaker and actor Stephen Chow Sing-chi by state broadcaster China Central Television.
The article is almost identical in form to a previous scam piece debunked by the Post two weeks ago, where Hong Kong film star Donnie Yen promoted financial investment apps in an interview with US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
Using the Post’s logo, design and a real business reporter’s byline, the latest fake article claims Chow referred to the app during a live CCTV broadcast where he “accidentally revealed his secret” to making a fortune.
In both cases, the newspaper published no such story, and the reports were categorically fake, the Post said.
The images embedded in the Chow article are screenshots of a real interview between Chow and CCTV reporter Zhu Dan that took place in June 2022.
In the real interview, Chow called on the young generation of filmmakers to leverage the advantages of the Greater Bay Area to facilitate cultural exchange between China and foreign countries. The interview did not touch upon any financial topics.
The fake article claims the live broadcast was interrupted when Chow accidentally revealed his “secret”, and that the interview was later deleted.
The Post confirmed the real interview video was still available on various CCTV platforms, including its official website, YouTube and X.
Users who click any links on the fake article are directed to a website that asks them to sign up for a trading platform. That site also claims the platform has endorsements from two Hong Kong actor-singers, Louis Koo and Kelly Chen.
A similar incident occurred in 2022 when scammers created a fake news report claiming Tesla boss Elon Musk had launched an investment scheme specifically for Hong Kong people.
That report also used the Post’s logo, design and reporter byline, and cited support from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Hang Seng Bank for the “digital platform”.
The city saw a surge of more than 55 per cent in financial investment scams in the first quarter of the year, resulting in losses of more than HK$900 million, according to the police force.
Commissioner of Police Raymond Siu Chak-yee warned residents against falling for illicit high-return, low-risk schemes promoted on social media.
Police in Jilin province have arrested six people in connection with a money-laundering case involving the movement of 2.14 billion yuan (HK$2.31 billion) in cryptocurrency to South Korea.
Jin and Shen, the surnames of two suspects, allegedly carried out an illegal currency exchange business, according to a statement issued by police in the city of Panshi, state-run China News Service reported.
Some people were defrauded out of their money, according to police, who did not identify which cryptocurrencies were used in the scheme.
Law enforcement became aware of the scheme when bank accounts under the suspects’ names showed “large [daily] transactions” involving a “huge number of customers”. The activity had the characteristics of an illegal underground bank, according to police.
Police said the criminal group used mainland bank accounts to receive funds, which were then used to buy cryptocurrency at over-the-counter exchanges. The cryptocurrency could then be used to facilitate foreign money exchange for cross-border business, such as e-commerce firms and other import and export businesses.
The mainland maintains a strict ban on commercial cryptocurrency activity, as Beijing has long regarded it as a threat to financial stability. The central government also has strict foreign exchange controls over capital flight concerns.
In 2021, the People’s Bank of China warned cryptocurrency firms facilitating trading activity on the mainland were breaking the law. The government also initiated a sweeping campaign that year to push bitcoin mining out of the country.
Many companies in the industry have since moved much of their remaining operations out of the mainland. Exchanges also ostensibly stopped serving mainland users, although some like Binance have maintained easy workarounds that are widely shared online.
With the trade among private individuals remaining a legal grey area, the mainland saw US$86.4 billion worth of cryptocurrency deals from July 2022 to June 2023, most of which took place through over-the-counter channels or the grey-market, peer-to-peer services, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.
In recent years, Beijing has increased its efforts in combating cryptocurrency-related money laundering.