Within days of clicking on an online ad for a cryptocurrency trading app, a 29-year-old Queensland man watched his dashboard soar with profits. Making investment gains was as simple as downloading the slick-looking app and browser extension linked to his crypto wallet. Unauthorised transfers started flowing from his crypto wallet and soon he had lost more than $166,000.
Frantic, he attempted to contact customer support, only to find the platform’s customer service team was a basic chatbot. It was only then he realised he had fallen victim to an investment scam constructed by artificial intelligence. Data from Scamwatch shows Australians have lost more than $45m to fraudulent investment schemes in 2026 so far, after over $160m in reported losses in 2025.
Experts say AI is significantly cutting the administrative work required to run an effective investment scam, replacing cold calls and isolated phishing emails with entire “scam ecosystems”. Dr Marco Navone, an associate professor of finance at the University of Technology Sydney says traditional red flags no longer apply, meaning consumer can’t always recognise the “industrial-grade” deception. AI-generated investment scams often offer access to a “financial adviser” with an Australian or English accent.
While the Australian Securities and Investments Commission deactivated nearly 12,000 scam websites in 2025, scammers frequently bypass removal using “cloaking” technology to serve scams to targeted users while showing harmless content to moderators. Cybercrime groups now integrate AI into almost every operational phase, says Dr Andrew Childs, a criminology lecturer at Griffith University. Digital platforms share responsibility, he says: “In these situations platforms aren’t being passive hosts.
A 2026 report by the Australian Institute of criminology found that more than 49% of Australians worry about becoming victims of AI-related crime, with 43% identifying AI impersonation as a direct threat. An spokesperson acknowledged that fund recovery rates remain “incredibly low”, referring to a national scams prevention framework being developed. It will require banks, telecommunications providers and digital platforms to bolster AI scam detection.
Experts are calling for more money monitoring, including mandatory confirmation-of-payee systems, forced settlement delays on high-risk transfers and stricter oversight of physical cryptocurrency ATMs. Navone says AI itself becomes a target for social engineering. If contacted about transferring funds, even by someone you know, call them back directly on the phone number you have for them.
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