The largest age group to have fallen victim to scams in the country is those between the ages of 55 and 64.
Australians have continued to fall for investment and cryptocurrency-related hoaxes, having already lost 242.5 million Australian dollars to fraudsters in 2022, according to the most recent data from Scamwatch.
The majority of money lost to scams of any kind between January and July of this year were investment scams, which can include everything from traditional Ponzi schemes to cryptocurrency fraud.
The amount is already 36% more than the total 2021 numbers, which showed that Australians lost 178.2 million Australian dollars to investment scams during the year.
Consumer organizations are urging banks to take on more responsibility for compensating fraudsters in order to “force greater investment in fighting fraud” in response to this danger.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on Thursday that advocacy organizations are pressing for changes that would require banks to verify that the recipient’s name matches the account name when money is moved online.
“The key reform is to shift that liability from individual consumers to banks when it comes to scam losses. They [banks] ask you for the account name, but they don’t actually check,” Consumer Action Law Centre CEO Gerard Brody said.
The PayID technology, which is optional and enables clients to view the name associated with a BSB and account number, is something that banks, however, want more customers to use. According to Brody, it is obvious that the voluntary system that makes consumers exclusively responsible for avoiding scams is ineffective.
A spike in cryptocurrency frauds, hacks, and the general market collapse looked to have increased Australian authorities’ monitoring of the cryptocurrency industry.
Sean Hughes, commissioner of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), allegedly cautioned investors to understand that buying crypto assets involves “extreme risk-taking” on Sunday.
“We want to be very clear and unambiguous in our messages to consumers entering the market,” ASIC commissioner Sean Hughes told a Governance Institute conference, as reported by local media, adding that the commission “think that crypto assets are highly volatile, inherently risky and complex.”
The Australian Federal Police established a specialized unit in August to track cryptocurrency-related transactions after earlier labeling the technology an “emerging menace” due to an increase in criminal activities.
The new Australian Labour government also revealed its position on cryptocurrency regulation during the month, and Binance, said in August that it was tightening its new user onboarding procedures to protect those who have been identified as being most susceptible to financial crypto crime.