Australian Federal Police stop $24m super and property scam

This is how the Australian Federal Police stopped half a million people from being ripped off in a global property and super scam.

Cyber-crooks selling access to Australian superannuation accounts on the dark web have been blocked by Australian Federal Police, saving $24 million from being siphoned off into criminals’ pockets.

The operation was one of several this year which have seen eight people charged with 21 cybercrime offences.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews will on Monday announce details of three AFP cybercrime operations, which include 163 disruption activities in the last year to stop hackers, ransomware gangs, and criminals selling people’s identifications and accounts details on the dark web.

These included Operation Zinger, where the AFP and an overseas law enforcement agency identified a dark web site selling cybercrime software to other crooks. The site was also selling off 500,000 compromised credentials, including of Australians, which would have allowed the crooks access to such things as superannuation accounts.

Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

In May, the AFP and other agencies were able to block access to the funds, worked with 20 superannuation funds to protected 681 members’ accounts and 35 employer accounts, and prevent the crooks from stealing $23.9 million from the super accounts.

A joint AFP, state and territory task force also intervened in several instances where business emails had been compromised, and stop $8.5 million making its way into the hands of cyber-criminals.

A Canberra woman who was purchasing property fell victim to a scam and mistakenly transferred $1.03 million to a criminally controlled bank account. However the AFP and the bank were able to withhold the money before it could be set offshore.

In another case, an elderly woman finalising payment for settlement of property transferred $500,000 into a domestic bank account after she received an email from a cyber-criminal she believed was her solicitor.

When her solicitor told her the money had not been received, her case was reported to the Government’s ReportCyber portal, and more than 80 per cent of her money was able to be retrieved.

In a third instance, a medical research company which had a contract with a foreign company made three payments worth a total of $3.5 million to what it thought was its supplier, before it was discovered the invoices were a scam.

The AFP and INTERPOL in Hong Kong were able to claw back $1.9 million. A Canadian man was later arrested in relation to the business email compromise.

Police are investigating a large-scale, highly-sophisticated syndicate using malware to compromise the financial details of bank holders.

Another ongoing operation is investigating a large-scale, highly-sophisticated syndicate using malware to compromise the financial details of bank holders.

In 2020, the AFP identified 27,000 potential victims and alerted Westpac, CBA, NAB and ANZ of potential compromise so preventive measures could be put in place.

Ms Andrews said the Morrison Government was taking tough actions against cyber-criminals.

“Our approach is getting results, putting offenders behind bars, recovering victim’s cash, and enhancing Australia’s cyber security,’’ she said.

“The Morrison Government is taking these crooks’ ill-gotten gains and we’re funding police to crack down on cybercrime, protecting Australians and securing our economic recovery.’’

*Victims of cybercrime should report incidents through the ACSC’s ReportCyber portal on Cyber.gov.au, or call the Australian Cyber Security Hotline (1300 CYBER1)

Originally published as Australian Federal Police stop $24m super and property scam