The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) has disrupted the operations of more than 2,500 investment scam and phishing websites since July 2023 with its newly implemented ‘scam website takedown capability’.

Tacking Investment Frauds and Phishing Attacks

Announced today (Thursday), the regulator has already taken down 2,100 websites, and over 400 websites are in the process of being taken down.

The regulator detailed that the actions were taken against fake investment platforms, crypto-asset scam websites, and imposter scam websites, which are very hard to detect.

“We recognize that scammers rely on technology to perpetrate investment scams. This includes using sophisticated websites to trick Australians into believing they are making genuine investments,” said ASIC’s Deputy Chair, Sarah Court.

“Our website takedown service helps us identify and disrupt investment scam and phishing websites from causing further harm to Australians.”

Investment Scams Are Rampant in Australia

According to the official figures of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Australians reported a record AU$3.1 billion loss to scams in 2022, out of which AU$1.5 billion was lost to investment scams.

Financial services regulators around the world are taking significant steps to tackle scammers. Many regulators, including the ones in the United Kingdom, Cyprus, Italy, and Spain, are actively publishing names and domains of illegal financial services platforms.

While ASIC does not maintain a database of the illegal platforms, its Italian counterpart has the authority to block access to the fraudulent platforms at the domain level. Regulators in the UK and Cyprus also approve web addresses when licenses are issued and display them on the regulatory website.

In the latest announcement, ASIC revealed that it has dedicated funding to enhance its disruption initiatives on fraudulent websites and investment scams.

Highlighting the sophisticated operations of the scammers, Court added: “All Australians should approach websites that promote guaranteed, quick, low-risk, and very high returns with caution. If an investment opportunity seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is.”