Funding scams in Australia price traders greater than 70 million Australian {dollars} ($50.5 million) within the first six months of 2021, with crypto scams contributing to greater than 50% of the losses, in accordance with Scamwatch knowledge.
As reported by the Australian Competitors and Shopper Fee (ACCC), Scamwatch knowledge reveals a 53.4% enhance in funding scam-related stories, which is ready to exceed $101 million by the top of this 12 months.
Based mostly on the 4,763 stories acquired in 2021 alone, ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard said that 2,240 of the complaints have been associated to cryptocurrency scams and primarily attributed to Bitcoin (BTC).
Rickard stated that scammers lure traders into utilizing pretend buying and selling platforms with movie star endorsements that promise excessive profitability. Whereas the buying and selling platforms initially enable traders to withdraw some income utilizing different victims’ belongings, the scammer ultimately stops unwary traders to withdraw their investments. “Be cautious of funding alternatives with low threat and excessive returns. If one thing sounds too good to be true, it most likely is,” she added.
Bitcoin-related funding scams in Australia have already exceeded $18.5 million, a steep enhance of 44% in comparison with the full losses of practically $12.eight million in 2020.
Different kinds of scams plaguing Australian traders included Ponzi scams, imposter bond scams and romance baiting scams.
Associated: Australian regulator points warning about unlicensed crypto companies
On Wednesday, the Australian Securities and Investments Fee (ASIC) requested Australian residents to cease investing in cryptocurrency by unlicensed entities.
The regulator has suggested traders to decide on monetary establishments that maintain an Australian Monetary Companies license. As per the stories acquired from traders, the ASIC famous that many of the losses associated to crypto investments have been as a result of “extreme leverage, platform outages, or unfair liquidations.”