Australia's Corporate Watchdog Warns Deepfake Scams Stole $7.4 Million, With the Prime Minister as the Most-Used Face
ASIC says criminals are using AI-generated fake videos of Anthony Albanese and other public figures to trick Australians into bogus investment schemes, with losses topping $7.4 million.
Key points
- Australia's corporate regulator, ASIC, has warned of a steep rise in deepfake investment scams targeting ordinary Australians.
- Criminals have stolen at least $7.4 million through these schemes, according to ASIC's figures.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is the most commonly copied public figure used in the fake videos.
- The scams use AI-generated video, meaning computer software that creates realistic but entirely fabricated footage of real people saying things they never said.
- ASIC has not yet proposed specific disclosure rules for platforms hosting this content, but the warning signals growing regulatory attention.
Australians lost $7.4 million to a wave of investment scams built around deepfakes, which are AI-generated videos that paste a real person's face and voice onto fabricated footage, making it look as though they are endorsing a product or opportunity they know nothing about. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the country's corporate watchdog, issued the warning after identifying a sharp increase in this type of fraud.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is the figure criminals use most often. His face and voice are cloned into fake video clips that circulate on social media, where they are dressed up to look like news segments or interview excerpts. Viewers see a convincing likeness of a familiar, trusted figure telling them to invest money through a website or app.
How does the scam actually work?
A person sees what looks like a news clip of a well-known figure endorsing an investment platform. The video is entirely fake. Clicking through takes the victim to a slick website asking for a deposit, sometimes as little as a few hundred dollars to start.
Once money is transferred, the platform either vanishes or keeps requesting more funds under the pretence that a larger deposit is needed to unlock returns. Victims rarely recover what they send. The Guardian Australia first reported ASIC's warning.
What should ordinary people watch for?
If a video shows a politician, celebrity, or news presenter urging you to invest money through a website, treat it as suspicious. Legitimate investment opportunities are not announced through social media video clips.
Four concrete steps worth taking:
- Search the exact name of the investment platform alongside the word "scam" before handing over any money.
- Check whether the platform holds a current Australian Financial Services Licence on ASIC's public register at moneysmart.gov.au.
- Report suspicious videos to the social media platform and to ASIC's Scamwatch.
- Tell family members, particularly older relatives, that this type of fake video exists and is convincing.
The regulatory picture is still forming. ASIC has enforcement powers over investment fraud under the Corporations Act, but rules that would require social media platforms to detect or remove deepfake financial promotions before they reach users do not yet exist in Australian law. The watchdog's public warning is, for now, a consumer-alert measure rather than a formal enforcement action or a proposed rulemaking with a comment period attached.
That may change. Regulators in the United Kingdom and the European Union are already pressing platforms on AI-generated financial misinformation, and ASIC has signalled it is watching how those frameworks develop.
