Cryptocurrency scammers have impersonated Australian police and exploited government infrastructure to pressure victims into handing over their digital assets, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said Thursday.
The AFP said scammers used the local cybercrime reporting tool ReportCyber to submit reports about their targets. At a later time, they contact the victims posing as police and inviting them to check the report on government websites, lending credibility to the scammers.
In one case, the scammers warned the victim that they would be contacted by a representative from a crypto company, who would also provide information to prove their legitimacy. This second caller then attempted to persuade the target to transfer money from their platform wallet to a wallet of their choice.
โThankfully the target became suspicious and hung up,โ the AFP said.
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A game of pretend
AFP Detective Superintendent Marie Andersson said the scammers falsely claimed that an individual had been arrested and the victim identified in an investigation involving a crypto breach. She noted that the scammersโ verification steps often resembled legitimate law-enforcement procedures, making the scheme โhighly convincingโ to some victims.
Andersson said this was part of a broader trend in scams becoming increasingly sophisticated. She encouraged โAustralians to adopt necessary safety measures onlineโ and warned that โif youโre contacted by someone about a ReportCyber report you didnโt lodge or authorise someone to make on your behalf, terminate the call and notify ReportCyber.
โAlso bear in mind legitimate law enforcement officials will never request access to your cryptocurrency accounts, wallets, bank accounts, cryptocurrency wallet seed phrases, or any personal information relating to your financial accounts.โ
Related: Australian feds seize mansion, Bitcoin allegedly linked to crypto exchange hack
Australia cracks down on crypto crime
In late October, the AFP announced that it had cracked a coded cryptocurrency wallet backup containing 9 million Australian dollars ($5.9 million) โ suspected to be the proceeds of a crime.
In late August, Australiaโs markets regulator was reported to be expanding its campaign against online scams, having taken down 14,000 since July 2023, with over 3,000 involving cryptocurrency.ย
In July, authorities in the Australian island state of Tasmania found that the top 15 users ofย crypto ATMsย in the state were all victims of scams, with combined losses of $1.6 million.
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