According to the latest report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), cryptocurrency scams in 2022 resulted in a loss of $148.3 million to Australian citizens.
The regulator received 3,910 reports of cryptocurrency fraud over the past year, with an average loss of $37,900 per investor.
Despite this, cryptocurrency scams accounted for only 7.1% of the total financial fraud in Australia, which amounted to $2.08 billion in 2022.
Bank payments were the most common type of fraud, with 13,100 cases and a total loss of $141 million, with an average loss of $10,700 per victim.
The ACCC identified social networks and instant messengers as the most popular channels used by scammers to find their victims.
However, in the case of bank payments, scammers typically use phone and email.
The Vice Chair of the ACCC, Catriona Lowe, highlighted that new and dangerous tactics were being employed by fraudsters, making it extremely challenging to detect fraud.
Criminals are now using phone number spoofing, fake email addresses, and legitimate organizations’ websites to deceive their victims.
Lowe stated, “We are seeing the emergence of new and dangerous tactics to lure victims that make it extremely difficult to detect fraud.
Criminals use all possible methods, including phone number spoofing, fake email addresses, and websites of legitimate organizations.
This means that now anyone can become a victim of fraud. In 2022, a record for the number of scams was recorded, but the real damage is even greater, because these schemes also cause emotional suffering.”
It was previously reported that Australian courts are imposing harsher sentences on criminals who use cryptocurrencies in their activities.