Cryptocurrency scams Australia surge 182% as AI fuels fake platforms
A 29-year-old Queensland man watched his crypto trading dashboard soar with fake profits within days of clicking an online ad. Then the unauthorised transfers started, and he lost more than $166,000 before realising the customer support line he’d been messaging was just a chatbot. His experience, reported by The Guardian, is a small window into a much bigger problem: cryptocurrency scams in Australia have exploded in scale and sophistication, forcing the country’s securities regulator to dramatically ramp up its takedown operations.
Key takeaways
- The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) removed 3,106 cryptocurrency investment scams during FY26, a rise of almost 30% on the previous year.
- Total online scam takedowns by ASIC jumped 182% to more than 19,400 in FY26, including 7,051 fake investment platforms (up 151%) and 5,476 phishing links (up 279%).
- Scammers are using generative AI, deepfake videos and fake celebrity endorsements to make fraudulent platforms look real, according to ASIC.
- Federal police recorded A$382 million in investment scam losses in FY24, with crypto making up nearly half of that total.
- Scamwatch data shows Australians have already lost more than $45 million to investment fraud in 2026, following over $160 million in reported losses in 2025.
A record year of takedowns as crypto scams multiply
ASIC’s FY26 disruption figures mark the sharpest jump in enforcement activity since the regulator began its scam takedown service. In an Aug. 17 release, ASIC said it removed 3,106 fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platforms over the financial year, a near-30% increase from FY25. That figure sits inside a much larger total: ASIC’s overall online scam takedowns surged 182% to more than 19,400 across the year.
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