The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong has recently taken action against fraudulent websites mimicking prominent local cryptocurrency exchanges.
On March 4, the SFC alerted the public about several deceptive sites posing as two officially licensed crypto trading platforms.
These illicit domains aimed to impersonate OSL Digital Securities and Hash Blockchain Limited, known as HashKey, by creating fake websites such as hskexpro.com, hskex.com, hskexs.com, hskexit.com, oslexu.com, and oslint.com.
These actions were taken after reports surfaced of users facing difficulties withdrawing funds and encountering excessive fees and commissions.
The Hong Kong Police Force has intervened to restrict access to these fraudulent sites at the SFC’s behest.
The SFC has also listed these sites on its official crypto alert list, which includes others that have impersonated exchanges like MEXC, with eight domains mimicking MEXC being blacklisted earlier on February 9.
To combat this issue, the SFC encourages investors to consult its public register for verified trading platforms and a list of licensed virtual asset trading platforms.
This measure is to ensure that investors are dealing with legitimate entities and to avoid any financial losses. The SFC emphasizes the importance of confirming the identity of any trading counterparty before proceeding with transactions.
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Bartosz Barwikowski, a layer-1 security expert at Hacken, pointed out the challenges in distinguishing authentic websites from fraudulent ones, especially for first-time visitors.
He suggested that verifying the website’s URL on the SFC’s site is a safety measure, albeit one seldom taken by users.
Barwikowski advises relying on trusted third parties and recommends using mobile apps over websites due to the difficulty in counterfeiting them.
He also emphasizes the importance of checking for a significant number of reviews before trusting these apps and suggests consulting reliable sources such as government websites or cer.live for exchanges.
This crackdown on fake crypto websites comes shortly after the SFC closed the latest licensing cycle for crypto exchanges on February 29.
Exchanges that missed the application deadline are required to cease operations in the region within three months, marking a significant step in Hong Kong’s efforts to regulate and secure the cryptocurrency trading environment.
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