Hong Kong police have reportedly detained three men, aged 26 to 55, who are allegedly got unauthorized access to access bitcoin ATMs, the South China Morning Post has learned.
Having taken advantage of the so-called "loopholes" in the ATM, the bad actors managed to withdraw approximately $30,000 in 11 transactions without authorizations from six separate bitcoin ATMs.
Cybersecurity and Technology Crime Bureau Superintendent Wilson Tam Wai-shun denied revealing the nature of the loopholes but admitted this was "the first time" the bureau came across fraud linked to bitcoin ATMs.
Access more than 50 of the world's financial markets directly from your EXANTE account – including NASDAQ, London Stock Exchange and Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The bureau representative added that the group is considered to be the "core members behind the syndicate."
iHodl earlier reported that according to a report published by Hong Kong’s Financial Services and Treasury Bureau on June 1, 40% of new fintech companies in the territory use cryptographic technology.
In particular, 39% of all fintech startups that arrived to the market during 2019 use distributed ledger technology (DLT).
The number of companies using cryptos-related technology in Hong Kong is growing steadily, with this figure reaching only 27% in 2018, which means in 2019 there was a 12% increase.
Subscribe to our Telegram channel to stay up to date on the latest crypto and blockchain news.