Inside ASIC is an ongoing podcast series launched in 2024 by ASIC and hosted by Australian journalist Siobhan Moran-McFarlane that’s designed to, in the words of ASIC chair Joe Longo, “pull back the curtain on the work of ASIC” and tell the inside story of what ASIC’s doing to “keep Australian consumers, financial markets, and businesses safe”.
The first episode, released on 16 September 2024, discussed ASIC’s attempts to combat investment scammers and featured ASIC’s Sarah Court (ASIC’s Deputy Chair), Jodie Mahoney (ASIC’s Scams Coordinator), and Ged Fitzpatrick (ASIC Senior Executive Leader, International).
What Is An Investment Scam?
In an investment scam, Court explained, a “scammer tries to trick you to invest funds in what you’re led to believe to be a real financial product, but that product doesn’t actually exist”.
How Are Scams Committed?
The channels, mediums, and technologies used to court unsuspecting victims are as diverse as the types of scams one can encounter. Scams can appear in text messages, social media feeds, fake news articles, and even in fake celebrity videos promoting fraudulent investments.
The severity of the problem cannot be understated. Nearly one-half ($1.3 billion) of the $2.7 billion that Australians lost in 2023 was due to investment scams. ASIC is fully aware of the gravity of the situation. Court said that “combatting scams is one of our core priorities at ASIC and we’ve got a whole-of-ASIC scams strategy with a whole range of different limbs”.
The Good Fight
Court listed several actions ASIC has taken to disrupt scammers:
- Taking down websites
- Engaging with and warning would-be investors about unreliable and untrustworthy websites via Moneysmart
- Working with partner organisations such as banks to detect and prevent scams
The work that goes into identifying fraudulent scam services/websites and warning citizens is inherently complicated, said Mahoney, and involves a significant amount of cooperation and engagement with “the scams ecosystem, which includes working closely with the National Anti-Scams Centre and other domestic and international regulators and taking targeted actions against scammers”.
ASIC and Its Allies
This work is not limited to Australia. Fitzpatrick explained that “it’s really important that we do collaborate with overseas regulators and law enforcement agencies to be able to share information where we can identify scams, and where we can share best practices as to how to deal with them”.
How to Protect Yourself
Fitzpatrick cautioned that Australians ought to always be on guard and think about the following before sharing personal information and money:
- Stop. Don’t give money to anyone if you’re unsure.
- Think. Ask yourself if the message or call could be fake.
- Protect. Act quickly if something or someone feels wrong.
- Don’t rush into decisions.
Alongside Ged’s recommendation, Mahoney felt Australians should start with the baseline of assuming that something is a scam unless they can verify otherwise.
Distrust and Verify
The podcast stressed the importance of checking and corroborating information and details against ASIC’s Moneysmart website and maintaining a cautious, too-good-to-be-true attitude.
It’s an approach that has seemingly resulted in a bit of good news, with Court stating that a 2024 report from the National Anti-Scams Centre “reported a drop in overall losses from investment scams from $1.5 billion in 2022, down to $1.3 billion” in 2023.
Clearly, ASIC’s strategy is working, and though the regulator has a long way to go, at least the results are showing that they’re heading in the right direction.
Takeaways
ASIC continues to adapt its methods and strategies to protect Australian citizens from scammer tactics by keeping citizens informed with numerous resources and working with local and international peer regulators to take down fraudulent and phishing websites.
Additional Information
Inside ASIC’s podcast includes an external link to the Protect Yourself from Scams page hosted by Moneysmart, an Australian government service designed to “help Australians take control of their money with free tools, tips and guidance”.
On this page, readers can find more information on how to protect themselves from scammers, examples of common investment scams and how they work, and additional resources that can help a person verify whether an investment opportunity is real or not, including:
- ASIC’s Offer Notice Board
- ASIC Connect’s professional registers
- ASIC’s investor alert list
- International Organisation of Securities Commission’s (IOSCO) investor alerts
We recommend the above for anyone who desires further or additional resources on this topic.
