Four in $3.5m cyrpto-deal robbery nabbed

Police arrested four men hours after a woman was robbed of HK$3.5 million in cash during a deal involving the cryptocurrency Tether.

The four, aged 22 to 54, were arrested in various districts on Monday night, several hours after the 33-year-old woman was robbed in Kwun Tong.

One of the four is the 22-year-old man who allegedly was set to buy the cryptocurrency.

But police said they were still looking for four men, including three believed to be the actual robbers. They had worn black balaclavas and carried knives and batons in the robbery on Monday afternoon.

The woman had transferred a large number of Tether tokens into the buyer's digital wallet at an industrial unit in Ricky Centre on Chong Yip Street.

But as she was counting HK$3.5 million cash in HK$1,000 banknotes, the three armed men barged in, grabbed the money and her mobile phone, and locked her in the unit before fleeing in a pickup truck with the supposed buyer.

The woman called her husband with a second phone, and he called the police.

It is understood the woman had three successful deals with the same buyer previously, involving HK$600,000 to HK$700,000 each time.

Police found there was a single table in the industrial unit. It was believed the gang rented it on a short-term deal so it would appear to be an office.

Tether was costing US$1 (HK$7.80) per token last night.

That was the second cryptocurrency-related robbery case in two weeks.

On January 4, a 37-year-old male trader was robbed of around HK$3 million and two phones minutes after being lured into a Bitcoin deal in Chai Wan.

He was also counting cash handed to him by the supposed buyer when he was robbed.

One Bitcoin was costing US$36,920 yesterday.

While cryptocurrency is traded on online platforms, some people prefer riskier direct transactions to avoid charges.