Thieves Grab $451K in Cash From Hong Kong Crypto Trader

Hong Kong police are searching for robbers who lured a female cryptocurrency trader into an office and robbed her of HK$3.5 million (roughly $451,000) in cash on Monday.

• The trader was paid in cash after using her mobile phone to complete an online sale of tether (USDT) tokens, the South China Morning Post reported Tuesday, citing a police source.
• After the cash had changed hands, three men are reported to have rushed from another room carrying a knife or a rod and grabbed the money and phone before locking the trader in the office.
• The men had previously made tether trades with the woman, possibly to win her trust, police said. It's not clear how much was stolen in total, when accounting for the tokens also taken.
• This is the second incident in Hong Kong involving robbers targeting cryptocurrency holders in two weeks.
• On Jan. 5, criminals tricked a man into a meeting for a face-to-face trade, before stealing cash and bitcoin worth around $852,000 and then pushing him out of a car.

Read more: Bitcoin Trader Robbed and Pushed Out of Car in Hong Kong