Australian citizens have been identified as one of the main targets of a sophisticated network of cryptocurrency call-center scammers – which is suspected to be run by Israel-based crime bosses.
Evidence uncovered after full-scale raids on four Serbian call centers and 11 homes by Serbian, German, Bulgarian and Cypriot authorities found that Australians were among the nationalities targeted. The news comes from a February 23 report by The Australian.
The raid led to the arrest of fifteen people and the seizure of $1.46 million in cryptocurrencies, among other things.
Dramatic police raids in Belgrade, Bulgaria and Cyprus, after an investigation in Germany, has uncovered evidence that Australia is among the highest levels of targeted countries: https://t.co/zWv7I3N5Kg pic.twitter.com/k98CPDxwz7
— Australian (@australian) February 23, 2023
Scammers from these call centers allegedly use advertisements on social media to lure victims and offer them promising investment opportunities with lucrative returns, according to the report.
A private investigation firm told the outlet that Australians are particularly sought after by scammers due to their relative wealth and a history of weak investigative efforts by federal and state authorities:
“Australia’s wealth combined with a long history of state and federal authorities unwilling or unable to investigate online investment fraud has made the country a sitting duck for the international crime syndicates behind the fraud.”
Mark Solomons, Senior Investigator at IFW Global, a private intelligence firm, explained that because many Australians are “friendly” and “open-minded,” they are more likely to pursue online relationships – especially “if the right buttons are pushed.”
“Australia and Canada are competing for the top spot. These are wealthy countries with fewer possibilities of investigation or detection.”
Solomons said many of the stolen cryptocurrencies were used to fund the scammers’ lavish lifestyles:
“There are Israelis getting very rich by ripping off Australians and siphoning their pension and retirement savings from the Australian economy.”
“We are talking about various individuals who fly in private jets, who have assets, real estate, luxury cars, cash. They travel freely around the world, they are buying yachts,” added Solomons.
While Europol has reported that $3.1 million has been stolen by multinational operations, he believes that the true figure “may be in the hundreds of millions of euros.”
related: Australia backs crypto watchdog in ‘multi-stage’ plan to fight fraud
Compared to other resource-rich countries, Solomons called on the Australian government to step up enforcement efforts at the state, federal and international levels to make targeting Australian investors less attractive to these scammers.
While some reports say that Australia lost up to $2 billion from investment fraud in 2021, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) reported that Australia lost $323.7 million, a 75.6% increase to $568.6 million in 2022, according to the consumer watchdog. scamwatch database.
$221 million of the scam’s losses were through the use of crypto payments, according to the ACCC.
Victims have lost an additional $53.4 million in the first month of 2023 as well.
To combat the problem, the Australian Securities Investments Commission (ASIC) published a list of “top 10 ways to spot crypto scams” in November to raise awareness of the issue.
In July, the ACCC began testing a cybersecurity service that automatically removes scam websites. The trial saw some initial success, with several crypto scam sites being quickly taken offline.