The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) shut down 3,106 cryptocurrency investment scams in the 2025-26 financial year as criminals used artificial intelligence, deepfake endorsements and fake media coverage to target Australian savings.
The figure represents an increase of almost 30% on the previous financial year. Overall, ASIC removed more than 19,400 online scams in FY26, a 182% rise, including fake investment platforms and phishing operations.
Australia’s corporate regulator issued its warning in a news release on 17 August 2026, saying online fraud networks were becoming more sophisticated and difficult for consumers to identify.
Cryptocurrency investment schemes remain a major attraction for cybercriminals seeking to exploit public interest in new financial technologies. ASIC said criminal groups were increasingly combining generative AI with impersonations of well-known public figures to promote fraudulent crypto platforms.
Instead of operating isolated scam websites, the groups are creating connected online networks designed to appear credible and evade basic internet searches.
How the scams operate
Victims are often drawn in through social media advertisements promising high returns from cryptocurrency investment platforms. They are then directed into carefully constructed digital environments featuring fake websites, fabricated news reports and deepfake videos.
Some of the videos show political figures appearing to endorse automated crypto-trading bots. Fraudsters have also created spoof media outlets and fictional articles praising their platforms, while AI-generated reviews and social media comments are used to manufacture the appearance of public approval.
In some cases, victims are shown small profits on fake investment dashboards. The apparent early returns are intended to build confidence before the victims are encouraged to deposit increasingly large sums.
Once money or cryptocurrency is transferred, it is sent to overseas criminal syndicates and cannot be recovered.
Data from the National Anti-Scam Centre showed that the most frequently impersonated individuals in these schemes during FY26 included Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, financial commentators Tom Piotrowski and Alan Kohler, and other prominent public figures.
Those impersonations were linked to more than $7.4m in reported losses.
ASIC Chair Sarah Court said the rapid development of generative AI had made investment fraud more convincing and harder for ordinary consumers to identify.
“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. “The presence of polished content, familiar branding or convincing testimonials does not mean an investment is legitimate.”
ASIC also warned that criminals regularly steal or invent Australian Financial Services Licence details to make fake cryptocurrency platforms appear genuine.
ASIC and Scamwatch are urging consumers to complete thorough checks before transferring money, personal information or digital assets. They advise people not to provide funds or data until the organisation behind an investment platform has been verified.
Consumers can use ASIC’s free Professional Registers to check whether a business is licensed to provide financial services in Australia. They should also confirm that the contact details supplied by the platform match the information held on the official register.
Potential investors are being encouraged to consult the Moneysmart Investor Alert List to establish whether a company or website domain has already been identified as a suspected scam.
ASIC said it had taken down more than 33,400 malicious links, fake platforms and social media advertisements over the past three years. However, officials stressed that prevention remained the strongest defence against investment scams run from overseas jurisdictions.
Australian police are also warning the public about transnational criminal networks using AI to build sophisticated, end-to-end fake cryptocurrency investment ecosystems.
