The investment scam causing the most damage in Australia right now uses a legitimate cryptocurrency exchange, an account opened in your own name, and money you transfer yourself. There's no fake banking page, no stolen password, and nothing that looks obviously wrong at the time.

Australians reported losing $837.7 million to investment scams in 2025, more than any other scam type. Cryptocurrency has also overtaken bank transfers as the payment method carrying the largest total losses.

How it works

Contact usually arrives unexpectedly. It might be a message on social media, an approach through a professional network, or a phone call you weren't expecting.

Early on, the conversation moves to WhatsApp, Telegram, or another messaging app.

The person presents as a financial adviser or investment specialist. They're patient, they're available, and they answer questions properly.

Over days or weeks, they help you open an account with a real cryptocurrency exchange. Nothing about that step is fake, and that's precisely why the rest works.

You're then introduced to an investment platform. It has a dashboard, a login, and a balance that grows.

You're asked to buy cryptocurrency through the exchange and transfer it to a wallet address the adviser provides.

The first investment is usually small. As the balance on the platform rises, so does the amount you're comfortable putting in.

Deposits are often prompted by an event. You're told the market has turned volatile and your money needs to move immediately to avoid a loss, which turns a considered decision into an urgent one.

Some people are allowed to make an early withdrawal, which removes any remaining doubt.

The problem appears when you try to withdraw a larger sum. There's a fee to pay first, or a tax, or a verification step that requires another deposit. Each one is paid, and the withdrawal never arrives.

By that stage, the cryptocurrency has moved to a wallet controlled by someone else, often offshore.

Once it's gone, recovery is close to impossible.

Why it's convincing

Every element that would normally trigger suspicion has been smoothed out:

  • The exchange is genuine and licensed
  • The account is in your own name, opened by you, using your own identification
  • The money leaves your account through your own instruction
  • There's no unauthorised access, no compromised password, and nothing your bank can reverse.

The adviser has usually built a relationship over weeks or months. The contact is regular, sometimes weekly, and it is framed as looking after you. In some cases several people are involved, each presenting as a crypto specialist in a different part of the world, which makes the operation look like a firm rather than a person.

Some coach you on exactly what to say if your bank queries the transfer, often by suggesting the bank will freeze your account or that staff don't understand cryptocurrency. If one bank raises concerns, you may be encouraged to move the money through another.

Artificial intelligence has made the supporting material harder to pick.

In the 2025-26 financial year, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) removed more than 19,400 online scams, up 182% on the previous year, including more than 3,000 cryptocurrency investment scams.

Signals worth stopping for

  • Someone guiding you through the transaction by phone, message, screen share, or remote access
  • Guaranteed returns, or returns that stay unusually consistent
  • Regular check-in calls over weeks or months, sometimes from several people claiming crypto expertise
  • Urgency built on market movement, with money needing to move immediately to avoid a loss
  • Coaching on what to tell your bank
  • Pressure to move money through a second institution after the first asks questions
  • A payment required before you can withdraw, described as a fee, a tax, or a compliance step
  • A recovery service offering to retrieve cryptocurrency you lost in an earlier scam, sometimes claiming to be from a government agency or the police.

Recovery approaches deserve particular attention. Being scammed once makes you a target for a second attempt, and the second approach often arrives dressed as help. 

Stop, check, protect

ASIC's consumer website, Moneysmart, suggests doing three things before you do anything with your money:

Stop.

  • Don't transact while someone is guiding you through it by phone, message, screen share, or remote access
  • Take the time to research the investment independently, without the adviser present.

Check.

  • Confirm the adviser and the business through ASIC's professional registers and the Financial advisers register, and check the Moneysmart Investor Alert List
  • Verify contact details yourself rather than using links, documents, or numbers supplied by the person promoting the investment
  • Then test your own understanding: can you explain how the investment makes money and where the returns come from?

Protect.

  • Never share banking passwords, security codes, or a wallet recovery phrase with anyone, for any reason
  • Only send cryptocurrency to a wallet you created and control. 

If you think you're already in one

Act quickly, and don't send anything further.

  • Stop communicating with the adviser
  • Call BankVic on 13 63 73 so we can look at your accounts
  • Contact the cryptocurrency exchange directly, using details from its own website
  • Remove any remote-access software and change the passwords on your device
  • Report the scam at scamwatch.gov.au
  • Talk to someone you trust, or an independent financial adviser.

Scams are designed by professionals to work on careful people. Support is available if you need it, through Lifeline on 13 11 14 and Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.

Where to get help

Our team can look at your accounts and talk through anything that doesn't seem right. We would rather take a call that turns out to be nothing than see a member lose money.

Call us before you transfer, not after. Last financial year, we stopped $5.8 million of members’ money from reaching scammers.

Call us on 13 63 73 between 8.00am - 6.00pm (Melbourne time) Monday to Friday, or email info@bankvic.com.au 

More on scams and fraud: bankvic.com.au/banksafe
More on investment scams: moneysmart.gov.au

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