Deepfake Scams Using Anthony Albanese Cost Australians $7.4M as ASIC Reports 182% Surge

Deepfake Anthony Albanese used in celebrity scams duping Australians out of $7.4m, Asic warns

Australia's corporate watchdog says PM is the figure most commonly used in deepfakes to promote phony investment opportunities There has been a steep rise in scammers luring victims into phony investment opportunities using deepfakes of celebrities and politicians, Australia's corporate watchdog has warned. And Anthony Albanese is the figure most commonly co-opted. Real footage of the prime minister, overlaid with fake audio promising Australians can invest $4,000 to earn $40,000 a month, appears in one video online. "This is not just another scam product," the deepfake Albanese says, falsely describing it as an "official platform" with a government guarantee. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (Asic) dealt with more than 19,400 scams last financial year, almost triple the amount in the year before. Artificial intelligence is making it increasingly easy to generate deepfakes, it warned. Fake celebrities were just the beginning. Scammers have built networks of fake brands, websites, reviews, news articles and videos that work together to convince victims to ultimately give them money, which ends up going to overseas criminals, Asic said. According to reports to the National Anti-Scam Centre's Scamwatch, Australians lost $7.4m to the top 10 impersonated public figures, and Albanese was at the top of the list. In one video, a deepfake of the prime minister promises people can earn $35 an hour, which is "about $850 per day" and "over $25,000 per month", according to the Australian Financial Review. The disinformation and dodgy maths are presented with an American accent. "Greetings. From the first day I became prime minister, I wanted to improve the tax system. We will not fully get rid of taxes, of course, but any resident will be able to receive dividends from them," the fake says. Economists Tom Piotrowski and Stephen Koukoulas; ABC financial journalist Alan Kohler; and politicians Jacqui Lambie and Angus Taylor (showing Lambie confronting Taylor on Insiders about patronising people) make up the top five. They were followed by entrepreneur Dick Smith, billionaire Gina Rinehart, economist Alan Oster, Pauline Hanson and the late radio legend John Laws. "It is important to note that scammers are receptive to broader changes in the news cycle and will opportunistically change which celebrities they impersonate to capitalise on topical issues," Asic warned. Last financial year, Asic took down 5,476 phishing scam hyperlinks, almost four times as many as the previous year; 7,051 fake investment platforms, 2.5 times higher; and 3,106 cryptocurrency scams, an increase of almost 30%. "The presence of polished content, familiar branding or convincing testimonials does not mean an investment is legitimate," the Asic chair, Sarah Court, said. "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. "Before investing, consumers should verify website addresses, check whether a person or company is legitimate and who they claim to be, and be wary of urgent calls to act." Scamwatch advises consumers to stop before sharing money or information; to check the details independently; and to protect yourself and others by reporting any scams to them, your bank, or cyber.gov.au. Asic said consumers should check for a certified Australian financial services licence, but also be aware that scammers misuse those licences, so they should check against Asic's professional registers. Commonwealth Bank research published earlier this year found about nine in 10 Australians were confident they could spot an AI scam, but in reality they can do so less than half the time. Deepfakes are also increasingly being used politically. Independent MP Zali Steggall has proposed a bill to crack down on deceptive political advertising, which would require AI-generated content that could mislead voters to be clearly identified.

Asic warns of surge in deepfake scams

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community. The watchdog says it has seen a sharp rise in online scams using deepfake videos of celebrities and politicians to encourage Australians to part with their money, with criminals increasingly exploiting topical issues in the news to deceive consumers. The most impersonated public figures in FY26 included Anthony Albanese, Jacqui Lambie, Angus Taylor, Tom Piotrowski and Alan Kohler, according to the National Anti-Scam Centre (NASC). In the same year, Asic removed more than 19,400 online scams - up 182% on the previous year - including fake websites, social media ads, phishing scams and cryptocurrency investment scams. Asic Chair Sarah Court says that celebrity impersonations are often just one part of a broader scam network that is designed to appear legitimate and reinforced by spoof websites, fake reviews, fabricated news articles and AI-generated videos. "The presence of polished content, familiar branding or convincing testimonials does not mean an investment is legitimate," she says. "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." She advises consumers to always look for an Australian Financial Services licence number and independently verify that number through Asic's free public registers. "If a business cannot provide verifiable licence details, or if the information does not match Asic's records, do not invest," she says.