Overview
- Fraudsters file third-party reports on the government’s ReportCyber portal using stolen personal details to create convincing but false cases linked to victims.
- Impersonators call posing as AFP officers, cite fabricated ReportCyber reference numbers, and use spoofed phone lines to heighten pressure and urgency.
- Incidents described by police show a two-caller playbook in which a supposed crypto platform representative follows the ‘officer’ and urges transfers to scam wallets, with at least one attempt halted before any funds moved.
- The AFP stresses genuine officers will never ask for seed phrases, wallet access, or banking information, and advises hanging up on any contact about a report you did not make.
- The warning comes as regulators intensify actions on crypto fraud, including ASIC removals of thousands of scam sites, AUSTRAC risk alerts, and pending rules to regulate crypto ATMs announced by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke.