BEIJING, April 2 (Xinhua) -- The National Internet Finance Association of China (NIFA), a self-disciplinary industrial body, on Thursday alerted the market to risks in overseas initial coin offerings (ICOs) and virtual currency trading.

All institutions and individuals should abide by the law and related regulations, and not participate in any such overseas trading or speculation activities, the NIFA said.

As the operators are hard to be identified, economic losses, once occurred, would be difficult to be recovered, it said.

After virtual currency trading and ICOs were declared to be illegal financial activities by Chinese regulators in 2017, some trading platforms moved their servers abroad. Through tampering with data, these platforms attempted to attract consumers with various gimmicks by creating an illusion of prosperity in the virtual currency trading market, according to the association.