The police and the consumer protection commission in Western Australia issued a joint warning against the growing number of Ponzi schemes.

The fraudulent investment schemes have been reported to grab $100 million from residents in the western state in the past two years. The Ponzi schemes offered high interest rates compared to other organized scam deals.

Senior Sergeant Don Heise of the Major Fraud Squad said the promised return of investment (ROI) through such scams run from 15 to 20 percent. Heise stressed, “We regularly see victims who have sadly lost their entire life savings as a result of these schemes, and our aim is to prevent it from happening to others.”

The elderly have been noted to be the most common victims of scams.

In September 1, 2010, the Consumer Protection Commission of the WA Department of Commerce issued a statement about the travel scratch card scam. The statement warned of a bogus travel company in Malaysia, EverMAS Tourism, only registered on the worldwide web in July 2010.

Two Western Australians lost a total of $7,400 through wire transfer. Each victim believed the money would be used to process payment of a huge cash prize of US$130,000.

WA Scamnet investigation found a similar version of the travel scam under the name www.aviatstravel.com. Both EverMAS and Aviats Travel are believed to be duplicates of the Euphoria Travelling Group and Malaysia Starize Travelling Group scams which began operations in 2009.