Australian Crypto Scams Skyrocket By 162% With $150M Lost!

Key Points:

• Australians lost over $148M from crypto scams in 2022, a 162% YoY increase.
• Bank transfer payment scams totaled nearly $141M, while crypto payment scams were $7.3M less. Crypto scams were able to swindle 250% more from each victim.
• Scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated, making it easier to deceive victims. The Australian government and private sector need to take stronger action to combat this issue.

Australians fell victim to investment scams that used cryptocurrency as payment method, resulting in a loss of AUD$221.3 million or $148.3 million, which is 162.4% more than the previous year.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released a report on April 17th, 2022, indicating that 3,910 crypto scam incident reports were made, and the average loss per Australian victim was AUD$56,600 or $37,900. The total scam value reported in Australia for 2022 was AUD$3.1 billion or $2.08 billion, and the figure for cryptocurrency-related scams represents a staggering 7.1% of the total.

The payment method preferred by scammers was bank transfer, with a total of 13,100 reports and a value of $141 million, which is $7.3 million lower than the value of crypto payments. The average value of bank transfer payment scams was AUD$16,000 or $10,700 per incident, while crypto scammers were able to swindle 250% more value from each victim.

Social media and networking apps were the preferred communication channel for crypto scammers, while bank payment scammers more often reached out via phone and email. The ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe attributed the spike in scams to new technologies, which make it easier to lure and deceive victims with increasingly sophisticated tactics. The ACCC warned that there has been an increase in the impersonation of official phone numbers, email addresses and websites of legitimate organizations, and scam texts that appear in the same conversation thread as genuine messages.

Despite the alarming figures, the true cost of scams is much more than the dollar figure as they cause emotional distress to victims, their families, and businesses. The ACCC emphasized the importance of strengthening ties between the Australian government, law enforcement and the private sector to combat the scams more effectively and bring the numbers down.

According to data from the ACCC’s scam database Scamwatch, Australia’s average investment scam victim is a 65-year-old man who will be contacted on social media or respond to a fraudulent advertisement. They will likely be tied up in the swindle for several months before realizing they’ve been scammed.

Some of the most common investment scams reported include imposter bond offers, initial public offerings (IPO), relationship or pig butchering schemes, and money recovery services. The ACCC said in its report that scam losses “are far higher” than reported as around 30% of scam victims do not report it to anyone while only 13% of victims report the incident to Scamwatch.

The ACCC, ReportCyber, the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange (AFCX) and other agencies compiled data for the report to raise awareness about investment scams and to encourage people to report them to the authorities.

DISCLAIMER: The Information on this website is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment advice. We encourage you to do your own research before investing.

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Annie

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