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Australia has seen an upsurge in scam cases involving cryptocurrencies last year, according to its consumer watchdog.
In 674 cases, victims reported to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and other government agencies that cryptocurrency had been used to pay scamers in 2018, with reported losses of A $ 6.1 million (US $ 4.3 million), said ACCC in its statement. Tenth Annual Targeting Scams Report, Monday.
This figure is 190% higher than the $ 2.1 million (US $ 1.48 million) lost due to cryptographic scams in 2017.
Online fraudsters have generally encouraged consumers to buy various crypto-currencies via fake platforms, but when consumers tried to withdraw their investments, they "found excuses or were no longer reachable," according to the report. .
Some investment scams have also asked victims to pay in cryptocurrency foreign exchange trading, commodities trading or other investment opportunities. The ACCC said that in 2018, investment-related scams claimed to have lost 2.6 million Australian dollars (1.83 million US dollars) in encrypted currencies.
In some cases, fraudsters also reportedly asked victims to go to the Bitcoin ATMs to convert them into cryptocurrency and transfer them to them.
Of a total of 674 cryptocurrency scams last year, nearly half were committed by men aged 25 to 34, the commission said.
ACCC Vice President Delia Rickard said in a separate statement that the total combined losses (fiat and cryptocurrency) reported to the ACCC Scamwatch program and other government agencies exceeded A $ 489 million (US $ 345 million), or A $ 149 million (US $ 105 million). million) more than in 2017.
Rickard added:
"And these record losses are probably just the tip of the iceberg. We know that not all victims of a scammer report it to a government agency. "
Image of Australian flags via Shutterstock
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