Australians Lost $148 Million in Crypto to Scammers in 2022

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Nearly 4,000 Australians said they used Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as payment to transfer funds to scammers in 2022, marking a significant increase of 162.4% from 2021.

These crypto transfers have enabled the criminals to obtain up to $148.4 million (A$221.3 million), according to the latest report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

To put that into perspective, Aussies paid a total of $56.3m (AU$84m) in 2021 and $20.5m (AU$26.5m) in cryptocurrencies to scammers. in 2020.

Overall, Australians lost a record $2.03 billion (AU$3.1 billion) to various scams in 2022, with investment scams accounting for over 66% of all losses financial, compared to 55% in 2021.

Crypto payments are the top investment scams

Continuing the trend first seen in 2021, cryptocurrencies were once again the most common payment method for investment scams, with criminals receiving $92.37 million (A$137.6 million ) into digital assets in 2022. Bank transfers followed, with a total of $66.46 million (AUD$99). millions) lost to these scams.

According to the report, the typical victim of an investment scam is a male resident of New South Wales, aged 65 or over.

Another notable observation is that many fraudulent investment schemes emerge when a new online acquaintance or romantic partner of an individual offers to offer investment assistance.

The report adds that scammers may invest a lot of time in building a relationship with victims before discussing their own investment achievements. After establishing trust, the abuser will guide the victim to invest their funds and help them create an account on a cryptocurrency platform.

Commenting on the report, ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe said scammers are moving fast and unfortunately many Australians are losing their life savings.

We’ve seen alarming new tactics emerge that make scams incredibly hard to detect, Lowe said. This includes everything from impersonating official phone numbers, email addresses, and websites of legitimate organizations, to fraudulent texts that appear in the same conversation thread as genuine messages. This means now more than ever, anyone can be scammed.

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