The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) obtained Federal Court orders to wind up 95 companies after finding most had been incorporated using false information and warning that similar entities, websites and mobile apps are being used to facilitate online investment and romance baiting scams, also known as pig butchering. The Court granted the applications on just and equitable grounds, agreeing there was a justifiable lack of confidence in the conduct and management of each company, with the case for winding up described as “overwhelming”. Many of the companies were associated with websites and apps that ASIC believes were used to trick consumers into investing in phoney foreign exchange, digital asset or commodities trading, and ASIC has taken steps to have numerous related sites and apps taken down. ASIC also suspects some companies were incorporated using stolen identities, and the Court appointed Catherine Conneely and Thomas Birch of Cor Cordis as joint liquidators. ASIC reported it is removing around 130 scam websites a week and has taken down more than 10,000 sites, including 7,227 fake investment platform scams, 1,564 phishing scam hyperlinks and 1,257 cryptocurrency investment scams.

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