A Queensland man enjoyed soaring profits from a crypto trading app. Then his money started disappearing

The administrative work required to run an effective investment scam has been drastically cut by using merging technology

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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. So he invested more.

Then the losses began. 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 .

‘Scam ecosystems’

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.

“Criminal networks can now deploy hyper-realistic, localised media, fake news articles, synthetic reviews … at scale,” Navone says. “[Historically], your first suspicion came from a cheap webpage, or a company phone number that was a mobile number instead of a 1300.

“All these small inconsistencies are now gone … this is especially the case when scammers target vulnerable parts of the population.”

The Australian Federal Police say scammers can clone voices from a few seconds of audio, generate convincing deepfakes and send thousands of personalised messages based on a victim’s location and online history. AI-generated investment scams often offer access to a “financial adviser” with an Australian or English accent.

Regulators can’t keep up

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.

“Offenders can construct an entire environment where each element verifies another,” he says.

Digital platforms share responsibility, he says: “In these situations platforms aren’t being passive hosts.

“They are actively recommending and distributing advertisements to audiences identified as likely to engage with them.”

Navone says digital platforms should be held legally responsible and be mandated to verify Australian Financial Services (AFS) licensing before publishing investment ads.

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.

Shifting defence to the financial system

An AFP 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.

“Over the coming years, we expect consumers and institutions to increasingly delegate financial decisions, portfolio management and trade execution to autonomous AI agents,” he says. “This introduces a dangerous new frontier: AI tools themselves becoming the targets of social engineering and financial scams.”

How to spot an AI-generated investment scam

Always check that an investment provider holds an active AFS licence on the Asic register .

If contacted about transferring funds, even by someone you know, call them back directly on the phone number you have for them.

Navigate to investment platforms using an independent web search rather than clicking links in ads or messages. You should also check if there are any scam warnings in the search results.

If compromised, freeze your bank accounts immediately, change all your passwords, and report it to Scamwatch and police . Victims can contact IDCARE for free national identity and cybercrime support.