Australia’s market regulator has released a list of the “top-10 ways to spot a crypto scam,” amid a detected rise in crypto-related investment scams this year.
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission’s (ASIC’s) public advisory statement was published as part of Scams Awareness Week 2022, an initiative that teaches Australians how to identify all forms of scams. The campaign takes place between Nov. 7 to 11.
ASIC said that Australians had already lost more through “investment scams” in 2022 than the total $701 million figure in 2021, while ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court attributed cryptocurrencies to the steep incline in investment scams over the last two to three years:
The main driver of the increase was cryptocurrency investment scams, where losses increased by 270%. The ACCC have advised that losses to crypto scams have increased further in 2022.”
“Given this concerning trend, we want to arm Australians with the information they need to protect themselves from scammers,” she added.
As part of the advisory, ASIC stated that cryptocurrency scams fall into three categories. The first relates to scams where the victim believes to be investing in a legitimate asset, however, the crypto app, exchange, or website turns out to be fake.
The second scam involves fake crypto tokens used to facilitate money laundering activities,…
