The Australian Financial Review (AFR) announced on Monday that the Australian Federal Police (AFP) has established a cryptocurrency crime squad that will track down and recover illegal cryptocurrencies connected to money laundering and other criminal behavior.
According to Stefan Jerga, national manager of the AFP’s criminal asset confiscation command, the unit which was established in August, will aid in the fight against cryptocurrency criminals by pursuing their assets and offering other AFP agencies investigative tracing capabilities and information.
The new cryptocurrency section would function as a component of the Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT), which has been seizing illegal cryptocurrency funds since 2018.
According to AFP officials, the creation of a specialized police squad would enable the Australian police department to trace bitcoin transactions across blockchains.
Cryptocurrency Crime in Australia
Scams and hacks are becoming widespread in the cryptocurrency community. Both the value and appeal of the cryptocurrency sector have increased significantly. Criminals have attacked other Bitcoin firms based on the same theory.
The amount of cryptocurrency seized by Australian officials alone amounts to millions of dollars.
5,011 reports of cryptocurrency crimes were made in 2018 in the country. In 2020, when there were 9,689 reports, there was a 67 percent increase in cryptocurrency crimes.
After that, Australia saw a 172% increase in crypto crimes, since the pandemic.
For this reason, Ian McCartney, Deputy Commissioner of Investigations, said that the workforce has been geared up to combat crypto crimes with a thorough grasp of digital assets.
“The criminal environment today is highly complex and requires an agile and far-reaching response from law enforcement,” McCartney said. “This strategy, which is delivering a maximum impact on the criminal environment, is despised by organized crime.”
A collaborative cryptocurrency research effort was initiated in August by the Australian Treasury Authority and the Financial Service Ministry.
The government took action in response to a local and commercial interest in cryptocurrencies and potential future developments.
The “Digital Cooperative Research Program (DCRP)” research will investigate market insights to safeguard consumers from vulnerabilities and ready the state for future digital advances.