A 29-year-old Queensland man lost more than A$166,000 after investing through a seemingly legitimate cryptocurrency trading app whose displayed profits encouraged him to deposit more money. Unauthorised transfers later drained his crypto wallet, and he discovered that the platform’s customer service was only a basic chatbot, revealing it as an AI-built investment scam.

Experts warn that artificial intelligence is enabling criminals to create convincing, localised “scam ecosystems” at scale, including fake news articles, reviews, deepfakes and personalised messages. Australians have reported more than A$45m lost to fraudulent investment schemes in 2026 so far, following more than A$160m in 2025; although ASIC removed nearly 12,000 scam websites in 2025, scammers can evade detection through cloaking technology.