Australia’s financial watchdog reveals a surge in sophisticated investment scams leveraging AI, deepfakes, and fake celebrity endorsements, with thousands of sites taken down amid rising threats to investors.
Australia’s corporate watchdog has warned that scammers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to dress up investment fraud as something credible, with fake celebrity endorsements, spoof websites and fabricated news all being used to trap would-be investors. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said a simple online search is no longer a reliable way to check whether an opportunity is genuine, because criminals are building entire fake ecosystems around their schemes.
ASIC said the tactics have become more polished and more convincing, with deepfake videos, fake reviews and manufactured articles designed to make a scam appear legitimate. The regulator said the most impersonated public figures in the 2025-26 financial year included Anthony Albanese, Jacqui Lambie, Angus Taylor, Tom Piotrowski and Alan Kohler, according to the National Anti-Scam Centre.
The watchdog said it removed more than 19,400 online scams in the latest financial year, up 182% from the previous year, as part of a wider takedown operation that has now taken down more than 33,400 scam websites, social media ads and phishing efforts over three years. In April, ASIC said it coordinated the removal of 11,964 phishing and investment scam websites in 2025, a 90% rise from the year before, underlining how quickly the problem is growing.
ASIC has also been warning this year about related frauds, including pump-and-dump schemes using fake celebrity endorsements and messaging app groups promoting fake crypto-asset trading platforms. In earlier alerts, the regulator also flagged scams using fake ASIC branding and fake recovery offers, reinforcing its message that investors should check licence details on ASIC’s professional registers and treat any unverified opportunity with caution.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
