Curbing the Rise in Investment Scams

According to the FBI, losses from investment scams surged 38% between 2022 and 2023. Fraudsters are using highly effective tactics, including sending text messages to lure victims to fake cryptocurrency platforms, said Ken Westbrook, founder and CEO of Stop Scams Alliance.

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Both Australia and the U.K. have implemented measures to combat investment scams that are helping, Westbrook said. Australia has created a system for reporting fraudulent financial websites, enabling the government to rapidly close down these sites – shuttering 7,300 fake websites in 2024 and reducing scam losses by 29% in the second half of the year. The U.K. also targets fraudulent cryptocurrency websites, shutting them down within an hour of reporting.

“In Australia, they’ve set up a system for people to report that they’ve been the subject of a fake financial website. That information then goes to the government, and the government shuts down these websites at scale. They’re shutting down 20 a day,” Westbrook said.

In this video interview with Information Security Media Group, Westbrook also discussed:

• How investment scams have evolved;
• Effective technologies and strategies to counter investment fraud;
• Lessons from international frameworks that could improve U.S. fraud prevention efforts.

Westbrook leads the Stop Scams Alliance, a nonprofit group dedicated to significantly reducing scams in the United States through public-private partnerships and cross-sector cooperation. Westbrook’s focus is to stop scams at the source, before they reach the consumer.