More than 7,300 websites were taken offline in the first year of operation of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission’s service to combat investment fraud, the regulator said.

Since the program began in July 2023, Asic says it has shut down thousands of fraudulent websites offering fake cryptocurrency trading and investment platforms, often spread online through social media and containing false celebrity endorsements.

While ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court acknowledged that removing websites as soon as they appear would be a game of whack-a-mole, she said the measure “makes a difference”.

London-based Netcraft can shut down websites within hours after an investor or consumer refers them to Asic, she said.

The Internet service company maintains relationships with domain providers around the world and tracks similar websites or those used by the same scammer.

“We take down an average of about 20 websites a day and have taken down thousands of those sites,” Court said.

Fake investment trading platforms accounted for the largest share (5,530), while phishing – where the scammer impersonates another service to steal login credentials – accounted for 1,065 deletions, and cryptocurrency investment scams resulted in 615 deletions.

Guardian Australia reported last week that an analysis by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission of cryptocurrency ads on Facebook found that more than half of them were scams or violated Meta’s policies.

Court said that as technology has become more sophisticated, it has become increasingly difficult for the average citizen to detect fraud.

“A lot of these scams are spread through social media feeds. When you’re sitting there scrolling through your social media feed and suddenly an ad pops up saying, ‘Click this link and invest money here,’ it really makes you stop and think,” she said.

“(You) should take time to do your due diligence and exercise a healthy amount of skepticism before you consider handing over any money or any of your personal information.”

In April, the National Anti-Scam Center reported that fraud cases would cost $2.77 billion in 2023, a decrease of 13.1%, although more than 600,000 fraud cases were reported, an increase of 18.5%.

Court attributed the success to a wide range of cross-sector actions – from banks to telecoms companies to government – as well as increased public awareness.