South Australia Police (SAPOL) is today kicking off Scams Awareness Week by trading prevention advice on the costliest cons affecting Australians – investment scams.
In 2024, expert scammers stole more than $192.9 million across 7412 reported scams affecting Australian victims. In South Australia alone, more than $7.8 million was lost to 413 reported investment scams.
Already this year more than $2.3 million has been forked over due to 165 investment scams reported in South Australia, compared to $74.2 million across 3165 scams reported in Australia overall, with men over 65 suffering the highest individual losses.
"Australians lose more money to investment scams than any other type of scam," Detective Chief Inspector Brett Featherby revealed.
"Investment scams involve promises of big payouts, quick money or guaranteed returns, often using fake data and high-pressure tactics to appear credible.
"Along with traditional bank transfer methods, cryptocurrency is becoming more popular because of the perceived anonymity it offers.
"These scams often aim to gain private information such as security codes or trick an unsuspecting person into sending cryptocurrency to a compromised digital wallet."
Scammers use tactics like allowing small withdrawals to build trust, only to block larger withdrawals later, trapping investors' funds.
"Significantly, in the past financial year the number of male victims over 70 has spiked, becoming the largest single demographic," Detective Chief Inspector Featherby added.
"Younger people are not as easily affected due to them having less access to cash for investment 'opportunities'."
Red flags:
- Advertisements on social media for investment opportunities.
- Celebrity endorsements for strange or unknown brands/companies.
- Low-risk, high-reward investments that seem 'too good to be true'.
- 'Crypto experts' offering free financial advice.
- Complex investment strategies that are confusing or unclear.
- Asking you to lie to banks or family about your investment.
Tips to help keep you safe:
- Visit a trusted financial advisor for investment advice and opportunities.
- Celebrity-endorsed videos are often created by artificial intelligence called DeepFake. These can often look convincing but blurred images and strange movements can give them away, so scrutinise any videos.
- Do not send copies of identification such as your driver's licence, passport or Medicare card to people or businesses that you are unfamiliar with.
- Watch out for poor grammar and spelling. A legitimate company will take great care in having a professional look throughout their site.
- If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Do your research!
Real-life example
South Australian 'Phil' was looking through social media when he came across an investment opportunity backed by a famous entrepreneur. He visited the website, Quantum AI, and watched an interview where the celebrity explained the stock trading platform, stating it was 'the next big thing' and it was an opportunity to get rich. Phil followed the link at the end of the video, which led to a call from a receptionist at Quantum AI, with Phil investing $25,000. Two weeks later after being shown the profits he had earned, Phil transferred a further $10,000. It wasn't until Phil tried to withdraw his money that the receptionist asked him to pay transaction fees that slowly increased in value, and Phil realised he had been fleeced of his $35,000.
Report
- If you have suffered harm or loss because of a scam, make a report at www.cyber.gov.au/report or attend your local police station.
Support
- Talk to friends and family
- eSafety Commissioner – www.esafety.gov.au
- Victims of Crime SA – www.voc.sa.gov.au
- Lifeline – 13 11 14 or www.lifeline.org.au
- Rebuild Victim Counselling – www.rasa.org.au
Cybercrime Constable Max Allison and Sergeant David Mitchell are sharing prevention advice as part of Scams Awareness Week.
Risk Warning: Cryptocurrency is a unregulated virtual notoriously volatile instrument with a high level of risk. Any news, opinions, research, data, or other information contained within this website is provided for news reporting purposes as general market commentary and does not constitute investment or trading advice.
