Australia Asks Its Citizens To Be Alert To Dompet Crypto Paper Fraud Spread On The Road

Australians have been warned to stay away from fake Bitcoin paper wallets. (photo: Doc. Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Australians have been warned to stay away from suspicious-looking fake Bitcoin paper wallets, which seek to lure victims to access lucrative crypto wallets but will eventually drain their own crypto holdings.

According to a November 22 post on the NSW Police Facebook page, the scam started as a cryptocurrency wallet with the QR code, which was created to look like a legal Bitcoin paper wallet. This scam wallet is spread by scammers in public locations such as roads or parks.

A person who finds a paper wallet and scans a QR code is directed to click on a link to access a crypto wallet of up to USD 16,000 (IDR 156.8 million).

The person was then asked to pay for the withdrawal fee and provide their own wallet credentials that allow them to transfer the balance to their own crypto wallet.

"After the withdrawal fee is paid and someone's crypto wallet details are provided, the person's cryptocurrency is stolen from their crypto wallet," NSW police explained, as quoted by Cointelegraph.

Authorities have advised the public to remain vigilant, and anyone finding a paper crypto wallet similar to this should not try scanning the QR code, accessing accounts, or providing their personal information. Instead, they had to submit the wallet to the local police station.

This is not the first paper crypto wallet scam case in Australia. More than three months ago, a user on Reddit created a thread that reported that it had discovered a paper crypto wallet and marked it as a possible scam.

Dozens of other people from all over Australia responded with their own stories about finding crypto wallets on the road, on the beach, and in parks.

A user, Pinnymc, commented that they were almost deceived because they could view wallet addresses and on-chain transactions. They said the website also looked genuine. However, Pinnymc said they became suspicious because of the 0.5% transaction fee.

"If this is a legal wallet, I should be able to withdraw and the transaction fee is out of the balance. It's a shame because it looks so legitimate," said the user.

According to data from Australia's consumer surveillance scamwatch website, the Australian public has proven to be very vulnerable to investment-related and crypto fraud this year, losing AUD 242.5 million to scammers so far in 2022.