Australians Lost $122M Worth of Crypto to Scams in 12 Months: Police

• Australians lost $259 million in investment scams, 47% of which involved crypto, the police said.

• The two common methods being used are pig butchering and deepfake technology.

Australians lost cryptocurrency worth Australian dollar 180 million ($122 million) to investment scams in just 12 months, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) warned the public in an announcement on Wednesday, adding “urging all to be extra aware of the proliferation and sophistication of scams.”

Data collected by the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) shows that Aussies lost A$382 million ($259 million) to investment scams in the 2023-24 financial year, of which 47% involved cryptocurrency.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said the victims now were more likely to be under the age of 50 years. In fact, 60% of the scam reports made to police came from the under 50 years age group.

Earlier this month, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said it closed down 615 cryptocurrency investment scams in the first year of a program to tackle fake investment websites and that Australians lost A$1.3 billion ($870 million) to investment scams last year.

AFP Assistant Commissioner Richard Chin said the data revealed that it was a misnomer that only older people were victims of scams.

“Scammers often use pressure tactics and different methodologies to lure victims into making poor investment decisions, with two common methods being pig butchering and using deepfake technology.”