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The Australian Securities and Investments Commission says it is “putting scammers on notice” as it expands capabilities to social media advertising.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) revealed today (21 August) that it has taken down more than 1,400 investment scam and phishing websites since it first launched its takedown capability two years ago, but ASIC is not content to sit on its laurels.
The commission also announced an expansion to its takedown reach, with ASIC now targeting scam commercials on social media.
“Expanding our investment scam takedown capability to social media ads will help safeguard Australian consumers,” ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said in a 21 August statement.
“ASIC is shutting down around 130 of these investment scam websites every week, which means we are shutting down pathways to reach Australians.”
Court said that while its traditional tools, such as court actions and investigations, are important, they can’t fight scams alone.
“The takedown capability is one example of how we are monitoring the latest trends and acting to protect Australians from those who try to steal from them,” Court said.
“While the latest data shows the coordinated work of the National Anti-Scam Centre is making progress in the fight against scams, there is still more work to do, and we urge Australians to stay vigilant.”
Investment scams are the leading cause of financial losses among Australians, with almost $1 billion lost to investment scams in 2024 alone. That’s still a vast improvement compared to previous years – scam losses peaked in 2022 with losses totalling $3.1 billion.
Of the 14,000-plus takedowns ASIC has performed, 8,330 were fake investment platforms, 2,465 were phishing hyperlinks, and 3,015 were cryptocurrency investment scams.
ASIC also revealed the top five investment scam trends it had observed over the last six months.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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