ASIC Dismantles 3,106 Crypto Scams Amid AI Fraud Spike

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission removed 3,106 fake cryptocurrency platforms and more than 19,400 total online scams in the 2025-26 financial year, the regulator disclosed on 17 August. The crypto takedowns rose nearly 30% from the prior year, while total scam removals surged 182%.

Deepfake Celebrity Networks Drive A$7.4 Million in Losses

ASIC said criminal syndicates are using generative AI to build interconnected webs of deception that make simple online verification unreliable. The networks combine deepfake video and audio impersonations of public figures with fabricated news articles, spoofed media sites, and synthetic reviews to steer victims toward fake trading platforms.The most impersonated public figures in FY26 included Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, finance commentators Tom Piotrowski and Alan Kohler, and politicians Jacqui Lambie and Angus Taylor, according to the National Anti-Scam Centre. Losses linked to celebrity impersonation scams reached A$7.4 million (approximately US$5.2 million) based on Scamwatch reports over the period.Across all categories, ASIC took down 7,051 fake investment platforms, a 151% increase. Phishing removals rose 279% to 5,476 links. In the prior financial year, the regulator removed a total of 6,915 scam sites, social media advertisements, phishing links, and crypto investment scams. Over the past three years, ASIC has removed more than 33,400 malicious links, fake platforms, and social media advertisements tied to investment fraud.

ASIC Chair Warns Online Verification No Longer Sufficient

ASIC Chair Sarah Court said Australians should be especially cautious when they encounter celebrity or influencer endorsements of investment opportunities online."AI is making investment scams more convincing and harder to detect. A simple online search is not enough to verify whether an opportunity is legitimate," Court said in the regulator's statement. "The presence of polished content, familiar branding, or convincing testimonials does not mean an investment is genuine."The warning carries weight because scammers are now poisoning the channels investors use for due diligence. Where earlier fraud relied on a single fake website, AI-powered operations create mutually reinforcing layers. A deepfake advertisement leads to a spoofed news article, which links to a fraudulent platform displaying fabricated reviews. Each element validates the others, and a web search surfaces the scam material rather than filtering it out.

Crypto Scams Remain a Fraction of Australia's A$2.18 Billion Problem

The ACCC and National Anti-Scam Centre reported A$2.18 billion in total Australian scam losses during calendar 2025, with investment scams accounting for A$837.7 million. The FY26 celebrity-impersonation figure of A$7.4 million is a narrow slice of that total, but it measures only the cases where victims identified a specific impersonated figure in their report.The true cost of AI-facilitated crypto fraud is likely far larger, as many victims do not recognise the deepfake element or do not report at all. ASIC and Scamwatch urged investors to verify entities through the regulator's Professional Registers before transferring funds. The regulator also noted that scammers routinely steal legitimate Australian Financial Services Licence numbers and impersonate registered firms, making even licence checks insufficient on their own. Whether Australia's incoming mandatory industry codes under the Scam Prevention Framework will slow the creation of new deepfake networks remains an open regulatory question for FY27-28.