In a new report from the Australian Federal Police, Australians have lost $122 million, almost $180 AUD to crypto scams. The scams took place in the last 12 months. Most of the victims fall under the age of 50.
Over the last year, a loss of $269 million in total happened during investment scams. AFP revealed that 47% of these scams were related to crypto.
Crypto scammers use deep fakes and pig butchering
AFP announced the use of deep fakes and pig butchering as the primary method of scammers to dupe the victims.
Pig butchering is the method of developing an emotional connection with the victim over social media before motivating them to act on into a scam investment. While deep fakes are fake video or audio, from an influential figure or celebrities to lure the victims of these scams. Tesla’s Elon Musk is the most popular choice for deep fakes.
When I search for "Bitcoin Magazine" on YouTube, the 3rd result is a scam deepfake AI of Elon Musk pretending to be a livestream of today's event telling people to send their bitcoin and eth to it, and shows over 170K viewers. Have you no shame @YouTube ? pic.twitter.com/keBaZ18bnI
— Tomer Strolight (@TomerStrolight) July 27, 2024
Richard Chin, who is Assistant Commissioner AFP, shared the important notice of victims’ age. In the gathered reports, 60% of the victims fall under the age of 50. Older populations above 50 years old, who are considered to be easier targets for crypto scams, are not the victims with the highest percentage, according to the report.
“Scammers promise high returns with little risk, using convincing marketing and new technology to make the investment sound too good to miss,”
Chin said.
Scamwatch, an Australian government website, also shows that the most prominent way citizens lose money is through investment scams. Although contrary to AFP data, it also shows that people over 50 are more likely to fall victim to such scams.
According to Chin, it’s possible that more people are being targeted for these frauds. He thinks that victims are not aware of being scammed or they are avoiding reporting out of embarrassment. He said, “If an investment opportunity sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.”
