Key Takeaways
- According to the AFP, cybercriminals gained unauthorized access to personal information and used them to lodge fake complaints through Australia’s official cybercrime reporting platform, ReportCyber.
- AFP Detective Superintendent Marie Andersson said the fraudsters were using tactics that closely mimic legitimate law enforcement procedures, lending more credibility
Crypto scammers have taken their schemes to a new level by impersonating Australian police officers and abusing official government systems to coerce victims into giving up their digital assets, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said Thursday.
According to the AFP-led Joint Policing Cybercrime Coordination Centre (JPC3), cybercriminals gained unauthorized access to personal information—such as phone numbers and email addresses—and used them to lodge fake complaints through Australia’s official cybercrime reporting platform, ReportCyber.
Once the reports were submitted, the scammers contacted their targets, pretending to be AFP officers. They instructed victims to check the reports through legitimate government websites, creating the illusion of authenticity and trust.
In one reported case, a target received a call from someone claiming to be with the AFP, saying that a person had been arrested in connection with a data breach involving cryptocurrency and finance. The caller told the victim that their details had surfaced during the investigation and that a representative from a crypto company would be in touch to “verify” their information.
The second caller then attempted to convince the victim to move funds from their platform wallet to a different wallet supposedly for “security reasons.” The AFP said the victim fortunately became suspicious and ended the call before transferring any funds.
AFP Detective Superintendent Marie Andersson said the fraudsters were using tactics that closely mimic legitimate law enforcement procedures, lending more credibility to the scam. She said the scammers falsely claimed that victims were named in investigations related to crypto breaches.
Further, she stated that the latest example was part of a broader trend in scams becoming increasingly sophisticated. Warning users, she said, “Also bear in mind legitimate law enforcement officials will never request access to your cryptocurrency accounts, wallets, bank accounts, cryptocurrency wallet seed phrases, or any personal information relating to your financial accounts.”
She advised Australians to remain alert when contacted about cybercrime reports they did not file. “If you’re contacted by someone about a ReportCyber report you didn’t lodge or authorize, terminate the call and notify ReportCyber,” Andersson added.
The development comes a month after Australian police said that it had cracked a coded crypto wallet backup containing USD 5.9 million.