The University of Queensland recently conducted research, which suggests how the Australian public should be educated about crypto scams.
It suggested that ‘trusted independent sources’ be used for this purpose, rather than individuals.
According to the study, the most effective way to bring down the risk of crypto scams is to ensure that people can get quality education from ‘reliable sources’ online.
The Quality of Information
People from almost every socioeconomic level have suffered from the impact of digital asset scams.
The research from the university found that the effectiveness of these scams depends on the decisions that people make based on poor-quality education.
On Sunday, an associate professor at the University of Queensland, Levon Blue, shed light on the two groups most vulnerable to crypto scams.
First off, people who are from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds are at the greatest risk. The next group comprises of people who are financially literate and actually have a university education.
UQ said that the main reason that people belonging to these groups fall for crypto scams is because they make decisions based on poor information.
According to Blue, social media is the go-to place when people want to learn about cryptocurrency.
The Problems
This has proven to be quite a problem for people previously. It is because they have fallen for false endorsements and scams involving crypto on social media platforms, particularly X.
This year has also seen many high-profile scams, which involve X as well as celebrity accounts. Hackers had access to these accounts to shill meme tokens based on the Solana blockchain.
Australia is one of the countries that has the highest crypto adoption rate and it is still experiencing growth.
According to Statista, over one quarter or around 25.6% of Australians own some sort of digital asset. This makes it one of the top countries in the developed world where crypto ownership is concerned.
The Risks
Considering the level of ownership, crypto scams can put a broad portion of society at risk. According to the research from the university, there was a loss of more than AUD 171 million in 2023.
This is about $114 million. Blue said that their findings had highlighted the need for online financial education from trusted and reliable independent resources.
It would help in combating scams and protect Australian investors and their assets. It has become more difficult than ever for people to evaluate the quality of information due to technologies like AI.
ABC Australia had reported back in April that deep-fake clips of renowned personalities were circulating on social media.
This was aimed at garnering trust of the people and to convince them to sign up for platforms that were being endorsed by the celebrities.
Another issue is the lack of action from regulatory bodies to protect people from risk.
It had been highlighted in the past year that the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) was quite slow.
Moreover, it also appears to be suffering from a ‘skill shortage’ where crypto knowledge is concerned, while overseas regulators are significantly more proactive.