The main threat is constituted by money laundering, with the Australian criminal intelligence authority being concerned that encryption technology, including cryptocurrencies, allows transactions to evade detection, potentially enabling criminal activity and tax evasion. At the beginning of August 2017, the Australian government accused the country’s second-largest bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, of widespread breaches of money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules.
The ACIC report also highlighted a rise in money laundering through sports betting. Online sports betting is widespread in Australia, according to Reuters, with about 25.4 million mobile handset subscribers and 13.5 million internet subscribers in a country with just 24 million people.
Other findings of the cybercrime report in Australia show that identity theft cost the nation an estimated USD 1.74 billion in 2015-16 and credit card fraud USD 411.38 million.
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