Fun Coffee scam spotlights USDT’s speed and risks
SingTao · 1 SOURCESabout 1 hour ago2 MIN
Summary
Hong Kong and Macau police recently carried out a joint operation and arrested eight directors, shareholders and core members of Fun Coffee, bringing another crypto-related Ponzi case into public view.
The company promoted a coffee investment project and promised annualized returns of as much as 277%, drawing victims to invest in USDT.
Police said individual losses ranged from hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong dollars to more than HK$10 million, with one single victim losing HK$50 million, while total losses in the case have risen to about HK$140 million.
The commentary argues that USDT was mainly the funding channel in this case, but its low-cost, cross-border design and limited accountability help explain why it is repeatedly used in fraud.
Key Points
- Fun Coffee marketed itself as a coffee investment opportunity and used annualized returns of up to 277% to attract investors to pay in USDT.
- Police said victims lost from several hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars to over HK$10 million, and one case involved a HK$50 million loss.
- The article cites two United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reports from January and October 2024 saying USDT, especially on Tron, was preferred in Southeast Asian laundering and scams.
- It also cites a 2026 TRM Labs report saying illicit crypto flows reached US$158 billion in 2025, a record high.
- In a separate Ohio phishing case, the FBI traced stolen Bitcoin converted into USDT and Tether froze about US$200,000 roughly one month after the theft.
Why It Matters
For Hong Kong readers, the case raises a practical question about whether the savings offered by near-instant, low-fee stablecoin transfers come at the expense of consumer protection and recourse.
The comparison with JPEX, where the article says no related USDT had been frozen three years after the 2023 collapse, underscores the gap between blockchain traceability and actual recovery for victims.