Australian financial regulator warns of ongoing cryptocurrency fraud despite monthly decline since April

Australia’s financial markets regulator ASIC said on Sunday it had taken down more than 600 cryptocurrency scams last year as part of a wider effort to crack down on online investment fraud targeting billions of dollars in Australian deposits.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said it helped combat 5,530 fake investment platform scams, 1,065 phishing scam hyperlinks, and 615 cryptocurrency investment scams.

These scams are estimated to have resulted in a total loss of $1.3 billion last year, spread via fake news articles and deepfake videos of local celebrities.

“ASIC urges all consumers to be cautious of social media hyperlinks promoting online trading and cryptocurrency investments,” the regulator said in a statement.

According to ASIC, an average of 20 websites are shut down every day and scammers are constantly finding new ways to lure victims.

ASIC reports suspicious websites to a third-party company specialising in detecting and blocking cybercrime.

Once malicious activity is confirmed, work begins to identify relevant parties that can help take the attack offline.

Targeted websites often include fake or fraudulent companies offering investment scams, including fraudulent trading platforms and cryptocurrency investment scams, targeting Australian citizens.

In one case, ASIC said an Australian consumer who had reported an investment fraud after being deceived by an online cryptocurrency scam had falsely claimed that ASIC was internationally regulated and had billions of dollars in trading volumes.

“The removal occurred approximately one hour after ASIC notified the provider of the website’s removal,” ASIC said. “Other potential investors were alerted when ASIC issued a warning via its investor warning list.”

Cryptocurrency-related scams spiked following the April Bitcoin halving, but are now declining month-over-month, according to data provided by regulators.

This is largely in line with global trends, with Chainalysis reporting in January that cryptocurrency fraud had fallen 29% over the past year.

A blockchain analytics firm said last week that cryptocurrency criminals are starting to shift their focus from decentralized platforms to centralized exchanges, and are using advanced social engineering tactics in increasingly sophisticated attacks.