Investment scams have claimed 65 victims in Western Australia so far this financial year according to the Commissioner for Consumer Protection, Lanie Chopping.
Ms Chopping said that so far, losses totalling $4,983,000 had been reported to WA ScamNet.
“The victims responded to cold callers, emails and enticing advertisements on social media making false claims of low risk and high returns,” Ms Chopping said.
“The bogus investments being offered included shares, foreign exchange, binary options and crypto-currencies.”
She said several advertisements used the stolen images of celebrities and prominent businesspeople to give the impression of authenticity.
“Some recent victims reported meeting the scammers via dating websites and apps and were presented with an ‘investment opportunity’ after an online relationship was established,” Ms Chopping said.
“Similar losses were reported last financial year with 63 WA victims losing a total of $5.9 million.”
She said that if someone was talking about a way to make easy, fast money and putting significant pressure on to invest large sums of money with a promise of high returns, “be sceptical and discuss it with someone you trust”.
“The investment scams are backed up by clever salespeople who use hard-sell tactics and fake evidence of high returns to get people to part with their money,” Ms Chopping said.
“It’s not until the investor asks to withdraw money that there is any indication that it’s a scam and a variety of excuses are used as to why withdrawals can’t be made,” she said.
