Among the sites shut down, more than 7,200 were fake investment platforms, accompanied by 1,500 phishing links and 1,200 cryptocurrency scams. Notably, ASIC dismantled the notorious Quantum AI scam in 2024, which falsely used celebrity endorsements and promoted dubious investment technologies.
The efforts, as outlined in ASIC's latest Enforcement and Regulatory Update, saw the removal of over 6,200 scam sites and ads during 2024 alone. This is slightly less than the previous year's figure of 7,300 closures following the launch of the fusion cell. An auto-referral system, launched by the Investment Scams Fusion Cell, now ensures that investment scams reported to Scamwatch are promptly handed over to ASIC for action.
ASIC's deputy chair, Sarah Court, emphasized the growing sophistication of scams, which often mimic legitimate operations. She affirmed ASIC's commitment to pre-emptively removing these threats and holding financial bodies accountable for their scam prevention measures. Australian scam losses last year surpassed $192 million, according to ACCC's ScamWatch, although the actual figures are likely higher due to unreported cases.
In addition to these takedown efforts, ASIC has achieved notable success in litigation, securing $46.6 million in civil penalties and 13 criminal convictions in the six months leading up to December 2024. The number of investigations initiated rose by 31% compared to the previous period, with 376 surveillances completed, marking an 8% increase.
ASIC chair Joe Longo highlighted the positive impacts of recent organisational changes and a revamped executive team, leading to enhanced processing of intelligence and swifter investigative actions. Longo anticipates that the increase in investigations will yield significant outcomes in terms of compliance, enforcement, and consumer protection in the coming year.
Additionally, ASIC initiated legal proceedings against HSBC Australia in December for allegedly failing to protect its customers from losing millions to scams. This underscores the regulatory body's ongoing work to bolster financial security for Australians.
