Hong Kong, Macau police arrest 8 over HK$100m Vietnam coffee investment scam

Fun Coffee established presence in Hong Kong last year, claiming to be coffee investment enterprise with assets of more than US$1 billion

Hong Kong and Macau police have arrested eight people in a crackdown on an investment scam syndicate that cheated more than 200 people out of nearly HK$100 million (US$12.75 million) by promoting itself as a pioneer of “kinetic coffee philosophy”.

Operating under the name Fun Coffee, the syndicate established a presence in Hong Kong last year. It says on its website that it is a coffee investment enterprise based in Phu Quoc, Vietnam, with assets of more than US$1 billion and a team of more than 5,000.

On the English-language website, which remained live on Tuesday, Fun Coffee describes itself as a pioneer of “kinetic coffee philosophy” and promotes what it calls the world’s first “sports-coffee-value ecosystem”, offering customised coffee-based nutritional support to runners.

As of Monday, Hong Kong police said they had received 225 complaints from potential victims since last month, involving investments ranging from HK$3,000 to HK$9.63 million, totalling HK$94 million.

The victims, aged 32 to 83 and including retirees, said they were invited to download the Fun Coffee app before investing in virtual currency.

The app suddenly went offline on July 20, prompting stranded investors to call police.