Australians have lost over $33 mln in investment scams since January

For the first nine months of 2019 traders in Australia have lost over 33 million USD in investment scams, the latest data of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) reveals.

The losses suffered by Australian investors have increased by 16.4% compared to the AU$41.97 million ($28.41 million) lost in 2018 as a whole.

The AU$48.85 million ($33.0 million) lost for the first nine months of the year are in connection to some 4331 reports, of which 41.2% involved financial loses.

In 2018 the ACCC received 4864 complaints, with only 27.6% of them involving financial loss.

The figures are comparable to the data reported by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, according which for the fiscal year 2018/2019 British investors have lost some 27 million GBP (roughly $34.4 million) in foreign exchange and crypto currency related scams.

According to FCA last year the authorities in the United Kingdom received some 1834 scam reports.

Earlier this week Singapore also reported a sharp rise in investment scams.