Ren Garcia 
Australians were revealed to be the main targets of a highly-organized cryptocurrency call center scam believed to have been initiated by Israeli crime bosses. A comprehensive search of four Serbian call centers and 11 homes conducted by Serbian, German, Bulgarian, and Cypriot authorities brought this news to light according to The Australian’s Feb 23 report. 15 individuals were apprehended along with $1.46 million worth of cryptocurrency being seized as part of the massive bust operation.
Israeli Fraudsters Do This Through Fraud Call Centres
The report discloses that scammers from call centers allegedly took advantage of advertisements on social media to draw in victims with the false promise of highly rewarding investments.
According to private investigation firms, Australia is a prime target of scammers because of its affluent population and the lackadaisical efforts by federal and state authorities in chasing down online investment fraud. It’s believed that this perfect storm has made Australia an easy mark for international crime syndicates who are behind these scams.
According to Mark Solomons, Senior Investigator at IFW Global – a private intelligence firm – Australians is more likely than other populations to pursue online relationships if they feel emotionally invested. He further noted that Australia and Canada have the highest rates of people engaging in such activities because these countries lack an effective means of investigation or enforcement.
Solomons revealed that stolen cryptocurrency is being used to finance the scammer’s luxury lifestyles: “Many Israelis have become extremely wealthy from exploiting Australians and looting their retirement savings out of the Australian economy.” Europol has identified $3.1 million as having been robbed by this international criminal network. Yet, considering all related activities, they believe it might be in the hundreds of millions of euros.
The Money Lost to Fraud Is Serious
In comparison to other wealthy nations, Solomons has petitioned the Australian government to augment their policing efforts on a local, national, and international level to dissuade scammers from targeting Australians. While some statistics show that Australians have lost up to $2 billion due to investment scams during 2021, data compiled by the ACCC Scamwatch database reveals an even more shocking figure – losses of $323.7 million in 2021 had jumped 75.6% by 2022, reaching $568.6 million!
In the first month of 2023 alone, Australians were scammed out of an alarming $53.4 million – adding to a staggering total sum of over $221 million lost through cryptocurrency payments in 2020-2021, reported by the ACCC.
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