Australian Authorities Issue Warning to the Citizens Regarding Crypto Scams

As the Bitcoin and crypto markets are gaining momentum, the numbers of crypto scams are rising to a dangerous level. All it takes to defraud a person these days is a website. News from many parts of the world is flying in, repeating the same tale of woe. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has formally issued a public warning to educate as many people as possible against these crypto crime syndicates.

As reported by Yahoo Finance, in March 2021, the ASIC received four different complaints about crypto scams. While the regulatory agency has been on the tail of many perpetrators, the recent spike in the number of scammers is alarming. Cathie Armour, ASIC Commissioner, admitted at a blockchain week 2021 event that the federal authority has been receiving a high number of crypto fraud reports in comparison to the previous years.

Why are People Unable to Differentiate between Legitimate and Fake Trading Platforms?

The ASIC team noted that due to the widespread popularity of cryptocurrencies and exchanges, many people want to take a chance at making more money by staking in digital space. However, the scammers take advantage of the limited knowledge and understanding of the new investors and direct them to fake websites that broadcast fake statistics.

To the eyes of the unsuspecting victim, these charts are showing the progress of the trading and crypto evaluation. However, in reality, nothing is going on, and the charts are manipulated by the fraudsters as long as they are keeping getting money from the victims. Most of these exchanges ask the victims to keep investing money as long as possible by misleading them with fake market representation. The ASIC urges all investors to conduct thorough research and make an effort to be educated about the investment opportunity before going all in.

Is it possible to Recover Lost Money from the Crypto Scams?

In most cases, people are approached by a stranger or an acquaintance claiming that they have made a lot of money from the online trading platform. When the trust barrier of the investors is breached, they agree to take a risk and transfer money from their crypto wallets or bank accounts. Since they have authorized the transfer of the assets, it is almost impossible for banks or any other federal authorities to intervene.

The ASIC has urged the citizens to keep a record of every transaction and all relevant details. The most important thing to do is to register the report of the misconduct with the ASIC Scam Watch program. If the authorities can crack down on scammers, it would be possible to retrieve the stolen money and prevent more people from falling victim to the scammers.