JPEX cryptocurrency scandal: Hong Kong’s MTR Corp removes outdated online ad for trading platform amid mounting criticism
Investor and Financial Education Council also warns more young people drawn to virtual trading, urges users to ensure platforms are licensed and to do proper researchMTR spokesman and ad agency JCDecaux Transport say advert in question was put up last year, but no further promotions for JPEX have been added sinceCrime in Hong KongWynna WongPublished: 3:58pm, 20 Sep, 2023Why you can trust SCMP
Hong Kong rail giant the MTR Corporation has removed an online post promoting unlicensed cryptocurrency trading platform JPEX following a Post inquiry, amid mounting criticism against its advertising policy.
The growing cryptocurrency scandal centred on JPEX, already the city’s largest case of its kind and totalling HK$1.2 billion (US$154 million) in assets, on Wednesday also prompted a government body to warn the public of the high risk of virtual trading, citing a rising trend of young people engaged in such activities.
An MTR spokesman on Tuesday night said a JPEX ad that appeared in a Facebook post had referenced an advertisement placed at the Hong Kong station from March to April in 2022. Related ads have not been placed in any station since June 2022.
Comments from various social media discussion groups show users hitting out at the MTR Corp for promoting JPEX. “MTR is involved in this biggest scam, it should shoulder all the compensation,” an online user said in popular forum LIHKG.
JPEX claims reach HK$1.2 billion in Hong Kong’s biggest-ever fraud case
Police earlier on Tuesday said the case involved more than 1,641 investors. Eight people have also been arrested so far in investigations of alleged fraud at JPEX.