A new trial being conducted by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) attempts to shut down fraudulent websites that target the local cryptocurrency community. The ACCC has contracted with Netcraft, a UK-based internet services provider, to provide the countermeasures service to detect dubious and suspicious websites for the takedown. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) is now a partner in the new trial with the ACCC.
According to a report released in June by the ACCC, Australians lost over $81.5 million (roughly Rs. 650 crore) to cryptocurrency scams between the months of January and May. The report served as a warning against the nation’s growing cybercrime rate.
Cryptocurrency is frequently used as a regular payment method by con artists who advise their victims on profitable investment opportunities. Crypto tokens are preferred by con artists because cryptocurrencies are generally unregulated and their transactions are largely untraceable.
According to recent reports, conmen are also stepping up their operations in the US.
According to a BanklessTimes poll released earlier this month, American cryptocurrency investors lost over $1 billion (approximately Rs. 8,000 crore) to various fraudulent operations and over $185 million (about Rs. 1,500 crore) to romance scams between January 2021 and March 2022.
Due to the vigour with which cryptocurrency scammers are now pursuing victims on LinkedIn, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has in fact issued an alert to the network for job seekers.
Scammers that solicit investments make exorbitant promises of speedy returns just to redirect the money to their cryptocurrency wallets. Others created phoney websites that let users track their cryptocurrency holdings and provide “test withdrawals.”
