An investor lost about 85% of her money after buying shares promoted through Telegram, the prosecution told the District Court, as four people went on trial over an alleged scheme to make the stock appear actively traded and sell at a high point.
The defendants—Stevens Yip Chi Fai, So Lung Ying, Lau Ka Wing and Chan Sin Ying—face one charge of conspiring to use a scheme intended to defraud or deceive actual or potential investors in the metal-packaging company named in the charge. The alleged conduct is covered by the period from 17 September 2020 to 24 April 2021, and the trial opened on 15 September 2026.
In its opening submission, the prosecution said nominee traders’ accounts first accumulated large quantities of shares, reducing the supply available to other market participants. The accounts were then allegedly used for matched trades—transactions arranged between accounts—which created the appearance of genuine market activity and pushed up the share price.
The prosecution said 19 nominee-trader accounts were involved in organised trading and linked them to the sale of 96.48 million shares on 23 April 2021. That was said to represent 52% of the day’s total trading volume. The alleged activity was intended to encourage other retail investors to buy before the participants sold their holdings, the prosecution said.
One example cited in court involved a woman whose surname was given as 鄺, who the prosecution said received stock information and trading advice from a Telegram contact in February or March 2021. On 23 April, she bought 30,000 shares at HK$1.02 each, spending HK$30,600, after being asked to send a screenshot of the transaction.
After the price fell, she sold the shares three days later at HK$0.15 each, recovering HK$4,500, according to the prosecution. The Telegram account that had contacted her subsequently became unreachable.