Australian residents have been identified as considered one of the prime targets of a complicated network of cryptocurrency call-center scammers – suspected to be run by Israeli crime bosses.
Evidence revealed after a full-scale raid on 4 Serbian call centers and 11 residences by Serbian, German, Bulgarian and Cypriot authorities showed that Australians were amongst probably the most continuously targeted countries. The news comes from a February 23 report by The Australian.
Fifteen people were arrested throughout the raids, and $1.46 million price of cryptocurrency was seized, amongst other things.
Dramatic police raids in Belgrade, Bulgaria and Cyprus following investigations in Germany have revealed evidence that Australia is on the forefront of targeted countries: https://t.co/zWv7I3N5Kg pic.twitter.com/k98CPDxwz7
— Australian (@australian) February 23, 2023
According to the report, scammers from these call centers allegedly used social media ads to lure victims and offer promising investment opportunities with lucrative returns.
Private investigation firms said Australians were particularly wanted by scammers resulting from their relative wealth and alleged record of poor investigative efforts by federal and state authorities:
“Australia’s wealth coupled with an extended history of state and federal governments’ unwillingness or inability to research online investment fraud has made the country a sitting duck for the international crime syndicates behind the scams.”
Mark Solomons, a senior investigator at IFW Global, a non-public intelligence firm, explained that because many Australians are “friendly” and “open-minded”, they usually tend to start relationships online – particularly “if the best buttons are pushed”.
“Australia and Canada are battling for first place. These are wealthy countries with a low likelihood of disciplined investigation or detection.”
Solomons said lots of the stolen cryptocurrencies are getting used to finance the scammer’s lavish lifestyle:
“Israelis are getting very, very wealthy by robbing Australians and siphoning retirement and retirement savings from the Australian economy.”
“We’re talking about different individuals who fly private jets who’ve very significant assets, real estate, luxury cars, money. They travel the world freely, buy yachts,” added Solomons.
Although Europol reported the theft of $3.1 million in a global operation, it believes the true figure “might be within the tons of of tens of millions of euros”.
Related: Australia supports cryptocurrency watchdogs in ‘multi-stage’ anti-fraud plan
Compared to other “well-endowed” countries, Solomons urged the Australian government to step up enforcement efforts at state, federal and international levels to make attacks on Australian investors less appealing to those scammers.
While some reports say Australians lost as much as $2 billion in investment fraud in 2021, the Australian Financial According to to the patron organization’s Scamwatch database.
According to the ACCC, $221 million of those fraud-related losses got here from crypto payments.
Victims also lost a further $53.4 million in the primary month of 2023.
To combat this problem, the Australian Securities Investment Commission (ASIC) released a listing of the “Top 10 Ways to Detect Crypto Fraud” in November to lift awareness of the problem.
In July, the ACCC began testing a cybersecurity service that mechanically removes fraudulent web sites. The attempt had some early success, with several crypto scam sites taken offline relatively quickly.
