Australia’s police joins global campaign to disrupt crypto scams

The Australian Federal Police has teamed up with Chainalysis to identify over 2,000 compromised crypto wallets belonging to Australians.

Australia‘s national policing agency, the Australian Federal Police, has partnered with blockchain forensic firm Chainalysis to combat crypto scammers as the number of identified compromised crypto wallets belonging to Australians surpassed 2,000.

In an Aug. 5 press release, the AFP said it had joined the so-called “Operation Spincaster,” the initiative targeted criminals employing a tactic known as “approval phishing,” a method of fraud that has enriched threat actors by stealing crypto from non-custodial wallets.

While it’s unclear whether the AFP succeeded in recovering some of the stolen assets, it said that BTC Markets, Binance, Crypto.com, Ebonex, Independent Reserve, OKX, SwyftX, and Wayex collaborated in identifying and supporting Australian victims, thereby preventing further monetary loss. The AFP urged Australians to remain vigilant against approval phishing and to exercise caution when dealing with crypto transactions.

Approval phishing attacks continue to rise

Approval phishing is a particularly sneaky form of crypto theft. Scammers trick victims into authorizing transactions that give them control over the victims’ wallets.

The AFP says this tactic is prevalent in both investment and romance scams, where victims are lured with promises of high returns or manipulated through the pretense of a romantic relationship.

According to the police, bad actors gained more than $4 billion in crypto since May 2021 by utilizing the approval phishing attack only. As crypto.news reported earlier, the crypto sector suffered a series of devastating attacks in July, culminating in losses amounting to approximately $266 million, a 51% increase compared to the $176 million reported in June.