Australian Residents Become The Main Target Of The Call Center Cryptocurrency Fraud Network

Crypto scams target many Australians. (photo: dock. Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Australians have been the main target of an advanced network of cryptocurrency call center fraudsters. This scam is thought to have been carried out by an Israeli-based crime boss.

Evidence found after a full-scale raid of four Serbian call centers and 11 residences by Serbian, German, Bulgarian, and Cyprus authorities found that Australia was among the most targeted countries. This news comes from a report by The Australian on February 23.

The raids led to fifteen people being arrested and $1.46 million in cryptocurrencies seized. According to the report, fraudsters from the call center allegedly used ads on social media to attract victims and offer investment opportunities by promising lucrative returns.

Private investigative firms told media that Australia was the main target of fraud because of their relative wealth and the weak history of investigative efforts by federal and state authorities.

"Australian wealth combined with a long history of federal authorities and states that do not want to or are unable to investigate online investment fraud has made the country an easy target for international crime syndicates behind the scam," said Mark Solomons, Senior Investigator at IFW Global, a private intelligence firm, quoted by Cointelegraph.

Solomons explained that because many Australians were "friendly" and "open-minded", they were more likely to pursue online relationships - especially "if the right button was pressed."

"Australia and Canada are competing for the top spot. They are a rich country with little possibility of disciplinary investigations or detections", Solomons added.

He also said many stolen cryptocurrencies were used to fund the luxury lifestyle of fraudsters. "There are Israelis who are very rich by robbing Australians and draining pension savings from the Australian economy," Solomons said.

"We are talking about individuals flying around in private jets, having significant assets, real estate, luxury cars, and cash. They travel freely around the world, they buy cruise ships," added Solomons.

Meanwhile, Europol reports that $3.1 million (Tp47.1 billion) has been stolen by this multinational operation. They believe that the actual figure "may reach hundreds of millions of euros."

Compared to other "high competitiveness" countries, Solomons urged the Australian government to step up law enforcement efforts at the state, federal and international levels to be less attractive to fraudsters to target Australian investors.

Although some reports say that Australians lost up to $2 billion from investment scams in 2021, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) reported that Australians lost $323.7 million, which rose 75.6% to $568.6 million in 2022, according to the consumer watch agency database.

According to the ACCC, the 221 million US dollars (IDR 3.3 trillion) from the losses caused by the fraud came from crypto payments.