Australia's ASIC Targets 95 Companies in Crypto Scam Crackdown

According to Cointelegraph, Australia's corporate watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), has received approval from the Federal Court of Australia to shut down 95 companies suspected of engaging in crypto investment and romance scams, commonly referred to as 'pig butchering.' This decision was made on just and equitable grounds after ASIC discovered that most of these companies were incorporated using false information. These entities were allegedly set up under the guise of providing legitimate services but were instead believed to be defrauding their victims, as stated by ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court in an April 8 announcement. Justice Angus Stewart, in an April 4 court ruling, highlighted a recurring pattern of scam activity associated with 'pig butchering' after reviewing 48 'Reviews of Misconduct' from 17 companies accused of facilitating romance scams. The judgment, delivered on March 21, underscores the deceptive nature of these scams, where perpetrators build fake relationships with victims to gain their trust before persuading them to invest in fraudulent crypto or financial schemes. The securities regulator suspects that much of this scam activity originates from Southeast Asia. Insolvency and restructuring experts Catherine Conneely and Thomas Birch of Cor Cordis have been appointed as joint liquidators for the 95 companies. The provisional liquidators have received nearly 1,500 claims from 'investors,' totaling over $35.8 million, according to the court order. These claimants are spread across 14 countries, including Australia, the United States, Cameroon, Ghana, India, Nepal, the Philippines, and France. The liquidators found that only three of the 95 firms possessed assets, leading to a recommendation that the remaining 92 companies be wound up and immediately deregistered. ASIC has also been actively shutting down scam websites, removing approximately 130 each week, totaling over 10,000 sites, including more than 7,200 fake investment platform scams and 1,564 phishing scams. Despite these efforts, ASIC warns that scams are like hydras, with new ones emerging as others are shut down, emphasizing the ongoing threat of scams and identity fraud. Australia's National Anti-Scam Centre recently reported a 26% decrease in scam losses to $2 billion in 2024, alongside a 17.8% reduction in scam reports to 494,732.