Investment scams mostly involving cryptocurrencies are driving a surge in losses reported by WA victims to record levels in 2022.
These scams now represent almost a half of total losses with 71 investors being conned out of $4.1 million in the first half of this year. That’s a 32% increase on the same period last year.
Overall, 557 WA victims in all scam categories have lost a total of $10.3 million in the first six months of 2022, heading for an annual record high if the upward trend continues. Dating/romance scams saw almost $3.2 million lost by 37 victims. Online shopping and classified buying and selling scams had the highest number of victims.
In 2021, the calendar year saw record losses amounting to $14.8 million reported by 1,041 WA victims. These statistics are derived from reports to WA ScamNet and represent only a small proportion of actual scam losses as most would go unreported.
The sharp rise in WA scam figures was reflected in national statistics released recently by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) which estimated record losses of more than $2 billion Australia-wide for the 2021-22 financial year:
Scams robbed Australians of more than $2 billion last year.
Commissioner for Consumer Protection Gary…
