The Australian federal police said it had approached more than 90 Australians as part of a crack on criminal use of Crypto ATM, including pig butchers victims and suspected criminals.
One of the victims was a 77 -year -old widow, Australia’s Financial Intelligence Agency, Austrak on Wednesday said, “An online dating scam was scammed out of $ 433,000 ($ 281,947) in an online dating scam.
Australian Public Broadcaster ABC reported that the widow was unaware that the Belgian men were dating online for two years, until the police showed her at her door, she was a fraud.
“Half Day Work” to send scammer cash
The victim said she was encouraged by Scammer, which she found on a dating app, showing her fake documents to invest in Bitcoin (BTC), claiming that she had made 13,000 Australian dollars ($ 8,464) a week.
For his first transaction, Scammer reportedly talked to him through the process, including withdrawing money from a regular ATM and then feeding it through bitcoin ATM. He sent his entire life savings in only 18 months.
The victim told ABC that she was paying the price of about 20,000 Australian dollars ($ 13,023) at one point, saying that the transfer often took a “half -day work”, and he became quite a specialist in using a “bitcoin ATM.”
“The worst thing was that my daughter had to tell me that I had really saved my life, which took me 40 years to earn, and it took her 18 months to get her.”
Austrac CEO Brendon Thomas said, “The task force identified another woman in its 70s, after seeing what she thought, was a legitimate advertisement about a trading firm, which offers a big return to investment. She damages more than $ 200,000.”
Police issues a charge, a formal precaution to others
During the crack, the Australian police targeted the top users of the Crypto ATM, who were at the high risk of being used for illegal activity or scam.
The police specifically approached 21 people, who were either victims of Crypto ATM-related scams or were accused of involvement in illegal activities related to machines.
Thomas said, “We suspected that a large amount of crypto ATM transaction was probably illegal, but our law enforcement partners found that almost all transactions we had included victims rather than criminals,” Thomas said.
One was accused of property laundering offenses, while four others were issued with doubts with formal caution, they were using crypto to buy drugs or acting as a money mules for criminals.
However, some suspected mule scams were victims who either unknowingly assisted criminals or deliberately transferred funds to fix their theft money. The AFP said that some people did not want to accept cyber criminals.
The latest Crackdown follows Austrac, rolling out new operating rules and transactions boundaries for Crypto ATM operators on 3 June. Last December, the agency also flagged Crypto as a priority for 2025.
Fake promises for crypto
AFP Commander Graeme Marshall said in a statement that scam victims are being manipulated to feed thousands of dollars in Crypto ATMs through fake promises of love, employment, investment or quick profit.
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“If you guarantee quick profits, if there is a feeling of high pressure time or feeling of urgency, and if you have never met the person before, contact immediately and report them,” he said.
“We need to receive the message: If a business or a government agency asks you to pay using a cryptocurrency, do not send the money.”
According to the AFP, Australia’s online cybercrime reporting system, report cyber, January 2024 and January 2025 receives 150 unique reports of scams associated with Crypto ATMs, according to AFP, with more than 3.1 million Australian dollars ($ 2 million) loss.
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