AIBRIEF
ASIC, Australia's corporate regulator, says fake 'official platforms,' mismatched accents and guaranteed monthly returns are the new pattern, and the deepfake is just the door.
Australians reported about A$7.4 million (about US$4.9 million) in losses to deepfake investment scams using the faces of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and nine other public figures last year, the National Anti-Scam Centre's Scamwatch said. In a pair of August 2026 releases, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission said Albanese was the most impersonated figure on a list that also includes economists Tom Piotrowski, Stephen Koukoulas and Alan Oster; ABC financial journalist Alan Kohler; politicians Jacqui Lambie, Angus Taylor and Pauline Hanson; entrepreneur Dick Smith; billionaire Gina Rinehart; and the late radio presenter John Laws.
ASIC handled more than 19,400 scams in the last financial year, almost triple the prior year's volume. Takedown data points the same way: 5,476 phishing links removed (about 4x the prior year), 7,051 fake investment platforms (2.5x), and 3,106 crypto scams. The agency tied the surge to AI cutting the cost of both deepfakes and the fake platforms around them.
One clip overlays synthetic audio on real footage of Albanese and pitches a made-up "official platform" with a "government guarantee" turning A$4,000 (about US$2,650) into A$40,000 (about US$26,500) a month. A second variant promises A$35 an hour, "about A$850 per day" and "over A$25,000 per month". The numbers don't add up, and the speaker's accent isn't Albanese's. ASIC's red flags: a public figure endorsing a specific investment, an "official platform" claim, monthly returns phrased as guaranteed dividends, and a mismatched accent. Total annual scam losses exceeded A$2 billion (about US$1.3 billion) per the ACCC's 2025 report.