Australians have continued to count their losses as many have reportedly been the victims of various investment scams.
According to a press release issued by the Australian Competition and Consumers Commission (ACCC), investment scams reported to Scamwatch have cost Australians more than $ 70 million in the first half of this year. This figure exceeded the total losses reported for 2020, according to the ACCC.
The rise in popularity of cryptocurrencies remains the most common avenue through which Australians are scammed. Of these, scams involving Bitcoin are the most dominant.
“Investment scams are more prevalent than ever, and scammers are capitalizing on interest in cryptocurrencies in particular,” said ACCC Vice President Delia Rickard.
“More than half of the $ 70 million in losses were from cryptocurrencies, especially through Bitcoin, and cryptocurrency scams were also the most commonly reported type of investment scam, with 2,240 reports.”
Proposing investment opportunities with good earnings potential has always been the attractive factor used to attract investors. Capital lost to Bitcoin scams topped $ 25.7 million this year, compared to $ 17.8 million in 2020, representing a 44 percent increase.
“Beware of investment opportunities with low risk and high returns. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is, ”Ms. Rickard said.
According to the report, losses incurred through Ponzi schemes and imposter bond scams were also popular. According to the government-backed reporting platform, ScamWatch, approximately 58 and 400 reports were made for both scam routes in the first half of the year.
Fraudulent activities involving cryptocurrencies are always frequent. Beyond Australia, such scams generally involve Initial Coin Offering scams, such as the case of AML BitCoin lobbyist Jack Abramoff. With the pseudo-anonymous nature of digital currencies, their use in cyber fraud will continue to be a threat. Many security companies are creating tools to help monitor and expose these illegal activities.
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