In a new report, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has stated that people in Australia have lost over AU$2.1 million in cryptocurrency scams in 2017.

The ACCC released its ninth annual Targeting scams report today. According to the report:

“More than 200,000 scam reports were submitted to the ACCC, Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN) and other federal and state-based government agencies in 2017. Total losses reported were $340 million – a $40 million increase compared to 2016.”

The report said that with the growing popularity of cryptocurrency speculation in the last quarter of 2017, a number of fake initial coin offerings (ICOs) and other cryptocurrency-related scams such as pyramid schemes were reported to the ACCC.

“Between January and September 2017, about $100,000 was reported lost per month to scams which had a cryptocurrency angle. However, in the month of December 2017, reported losses to Scamwatch exceeded $700,000 and the average reported loss had jumped from $1885 in January to $13,205,” it said. “By the end of the year, reports of losses related to cryptocurrencies exceeded $2.1 million but as with other scams, this is likely the very tip of the iceberg.”

In statements, ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said that technological advances are making these scams very sophisticated and difficult to identify.

“It’s very worrying that Australians are losing such extraordinary amounts to scammers,” Rickard said. “Some scams are becoming very sophisticated and hard to spot. Scammers use modern technology like social media to contact and deceive their victims. In the past few years, reports indicate scammers are using aggressive techniques both over the phone and online.”