According to Cointelegraph, cryptocurrency exchanges in Australia have been increasingly communicating with their users as part of preventative measures for scams. Local crypto firms believe that such communication is the key to preventing scams as it can break trust between victims and scammers. Executives at major Australian crypto firms like Cointree, CoinSpot, and Swyftx met at a panel of the fintech conference Intersekt 2023 in Melbourne to discuss the issue of scams and fraud in crypto. The executives mentioned a variety of measures taken by the platforms to protect their users from fraud, including automated and manual Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks, investigations, education, and communication.
CoinSpot AML officer Jedda Stocks-Ramsay stated that the firm has been particularly focused on talking to its customers as it found it really effective. He noted that talking about scams is the key factor because there's a social engineering aspect to that. CoinSpot has been particularly focused on helping customers understand the issue of trust that scammers attempt to build with their victims. Stocks-Ramsay said that scammers often spend hours on the phone with victims, and a simple email from the exchange could help users to avoid this altogether.
Swyftx executive Jason Titman stressed that education is another important component of protecting crypto users. He noted that often, the reason individual consumers are susceptible to being tricked into disclosing their personal data and passwords to scammers is due to a lack of education. The panel speakers also highlighted the importance of educating users beyond just the cryptocurrency industry. Stocks-Ramsay said that cryptocurrency is just one industry within the scams ecosystem, and many other industries are involved in crypto scams, including social media, banks, telecoms, and others.
Cointree CEO Jess Renden agreed with the CoinSpot exec, stressing that cryptocurrency scams are not crypto's fault. Crypto firms in Australia have been actively communicating with regulators and other businesses, be it telcos or social media platforms. The news comes a few months after Australia's major banks argued that 40% of scams involve cryptocurrency in order to defend the decisions of certain local banks that restricted some crypto transactions over scams in early June 2023. According to data from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, local people lost roughly $150 million from investments where cryptocurrency was used as the payment method in 2022, up more than 160% from 2021.