Bitcoin millionaire behind high-rise banknote stunt accused of fraud

A Bitcoin millionaire who was arrested after he allegedly arranged to have banknotes thrown from the top of a Hong Kong high-rise has been accused of defrauding investors.

Wong Ching Kit, 24, is believed to be behind last month’s money-throwing incident, where at least HK$6,000 (£600/US$765) was dropped from the top of a building in Hong Kong.

The stunt was captured on video and went viral across social media. Wong, AKA ‘Young Coin Master’, was arrested soon afterwards for public disorder, but has since been bailed.

Now a group of investors claim he duped them into investing in cryptocurrency ‘mining machines’ for the digital currency ‘Filecoin’ and lost about HK$3 million, according to the South China Morning Post.

The group, who are being supported by the Hong Kong Democratic Party, claimed they were told their investment could turn a profit in just three months.

One investor, who gave her name as Ms Chiu, claims she lost more than HK$120,000.

She told the paper: “At first, I was told I could get a refund if Filecoin could not be launched in time.

“But when we asked for a refund, he used delaying tactics and made different excuses to turn us down.”

Wong defended himself in a Facebook post, claiming he had been unfairly targeted.

He wrote: “I sell mining machines only but am treated as if I have killed people.

“When they make money, there is no thank you. When they lose money, they call it a scam.”

The viral footage from last month shows a man throwing hundreds of millions of HKD bank notes from a roof top.

Police were dispatched to the scene and advised civilians to not pick up the money that had floated down from the building.

Wong is believed to be the owner of Epoch Cryptocurrency, a Facebook page dedicated to promoting cryptocurrency.

Asiacryptotoday also reported Wong has fallen under scrutiny for running a pyramid-type scheme before.