On Tuesday,
the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) issued a warning,
alerting investors about appasiccoin.org website, which is using
cryptocurrencies to potentially scam retail traders. Despite claims the
regulator endorses its activities, it does not possess an Australian financial
services (AFS) authorization.
ASIC highlights
three points that should suggest to investors that they are dealing with a scam.
Firstly, it uses ASIC’s logo without the regulator’s approval (the institution
stresses that it has never endorsed any individual company or business). Secondly,
appasiccoin.org us an encrypted messaging system to advertise its scam, providing
almost no contact information, and thirdly, ASIC does not license the website
or its operator.
“Do not
invest in this product. ASIC does not endorse it or any other investments. The
appasiccoin.org also does not have the permission to use ASIC’s name and has no
affiliation with ASIC,” the regulator commented in the press release
published on Tuesday.
It is worth
noting that the Australian financial watchdog is not notifying the public about potential
cryptocurrency scams very often. The last time it published an official ‘crypto
scam alert’ was in January 2021 regarding
Alliance Limited. The allegations against alliancelimited.org were very
similar to those currently involving appasiccoin.org
Crypto Scams
Hit Traders Hard in the Last Year
As the
popularity of the cryptocurrency market continues to grow, even despite the
ongoing cryptocurrency winter, crimes, theft and fraud are becoming
more common in the industry. According
to the latest report published by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in June,
since the start of last year, more than $1 billion worth of cryptos has been
stolen or lost due to a wide variety of scams.
“Investment
scammers claim they can quickly and easily get huge returns for investors. But,
those crypto ‘investments’ go straight to a scammer’s wallet. People report
that investment websites and apps let them track the growth of their crypto,
but it’s all fake,” the FTC reported at the time.
More than
half of the amount mentioned above ($575 million) involved investment-related
fraud. Another $185 million was lost due to ‘romance fraud’.
ASIC
itself has secured
a total of $229.9…
