- They impersonate police officers and reference official government websites
- Victims are falsely told they are linked to an investigation involving cryptocurrency
- The AFP warns real officers will not request access to wallets or accounts
Australia is facing a wave of sophisticated cryptocurrency scams that involve fake law enforcement activity.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has confirmed that scammers are impersonating officials and citing fraudulent cybercrime reports to trick individuals into transferring digital funds.
These scams are marked by a strategic misuse of the legitimate government online portal ReportCyber, which is intended to help the public report cybercrime.
Scammers exploit this official system to lodge false reports about targeted individuals.
Once the fake report is filed, they contact the victim directly, posing as police officers and referring to the fabricated case to build credibility.
They often direct victims to the real government website to verify the report, making the entire setup appear authentic.
Exploiting official systems to carry out crypto fraud
This method takes advantage of public trust in state infrastructure. Scammers are no longer relying solely on spam messages or phishing links.
They use real government services to create an additional layer of deception.
The objective is to make their claims appear verifiable, lulling unsuspecting users into a false sense of security before attempting to extract their digital assets.
In a recent incident reported by the AFP, scammers lodged a fake complaint on ReportCyber about a target. Shortly afterward, the victim was contacted by someone claiming to be a police officer.
The caller told the victim they were involved in a criminal matter related to cryptocurrency and advised them to expect a second call from a representative of a crypto company who would confirm the story.
The second caller, who was also a scammer, then tried to persuade the target to move their assets from one crypto wallet to another. The wallet address provided belonged to the criminals.
Luckily, the target noticed inconsistencies in the communications and ended the call before any transfer was completed.
Impersonation tactics mirror real police procedures
AFP officials revealed that the tactics used in these scams closely mimic legitimate law enforcement processes.
The criminals involved invent accounts of arrests, link victims to ongoing investigations, and emulate the language and procedures used in real inquiries.
This level of detail makes it difficult for victims to distinguish between genuine contact and fraud.
The scams are structured to allow attackers to escalate their approach using multiple actors.
First, an individual posing as a police officer initiates contact.
Then a second person claims to represent a cryptocurrency company. Both characters support the same fabricated narrative and provide bogus confirmation documents to bolster their credibility.
The AFP urges Australians to exercise caution. If anyone is contacted about a ReportCyber submission they did not make or authorize, they should end the call and report the matter directly to authorities.
Real officers will not ask for access to cryptocurrency wallets, bank accounts, or sensitive financial information such as seed phrases.