« A Wild West to regulate » – These words from Gary Gensler, the boss of the SECresound throughout the world and find a particular echo in Australia where the victims of scammers of all kinds number in the thousands. Telephone canvassing, internet, smartphone, social networks, dating platform, scammers without borders didn’t wait Bitcoin to pour into banditry, but it must be recognized that crypto offers them a new playground with more than vague limits in which they evolve easily and freely. Often, moreover, the cryptocurrency is only a means of to transfer money to a sourdough, but she can also be at the very heart of the trick. Direction Canberra to take stock.
A new report confirms the increase in the number of scams in Australia
Last year in Australianext to 4000 people reported using bitcoin or other crypto to transfer funds to scammers and this figure is increasing by 162% compared to last year. The amount paid in crypto represents 148,4 millions the dollars Americans out of a total paid to scammers of 2.03 billion over the period (i.e. only 7,1%). To get an idea, in 2020 these are 20,5 millions that were paid out in crypto and in 2021, more than twice as much with 56,3 millions. The trend is therefore clearly upwards.
But back to 2022 where 92,9% payments of money to various pirates have therefore been made by bank transfers absolutely classic. The report we are talking about today has just been published by theAustralian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), in partnership with his team at Scamwatch. ReportCyberl’Australian Financial Crimes Exchange (AFCX) and other agencies have contributed. All of these actors have compiled a lot of data to draw a composite portrait of the typical victim of these scams in Australia.
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Composite portrait of a victim and modus operandi
This is a hommeliving in New South Wales and aged 65 or older. We learn that new types of schemes are being developed, in addition to the classics such as phishing, misleading advertising on social networks or the recovery of money blocked in an exotic country. And the new trendy scam, which is called the « pig butchering ». It consists in keeping someone sentimentally captive who is going fatten the crook before being abandoned.
Contacted then seduced on dating sites or social networks, the victims will fall in love with a person who does not really exist and send them money for weeks, even months, before realizing that this was all just a joke scam. Moreover, the vice-president of the ACCC, Catriona Lowe, specifies that this type of action is difficult to quantify, because many victims have shame and prefer to be silent. Finally, she wants to say that all this is not just about money:
“Australians have lost more money to scams than ever before in 2022, but the true cost is much more than a dollar figure, as they also cause emotional distress to victims, their families and their businesses. . »
The imagination of digital gangsters really has no limits and we have to pay more and more attention to our behavior on the internet. Recently, we learned that TradingView could potentially be the cause a phishing attack. We cannot repeat it enough: watch out for e-mails, attachments and strange links. If in doubt, do not click. And this is valid in Australia, but also in the depths of the Dordogne.
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