BY WEALTH ADVISER
A retired teacher in regional New South Wales transfers $80,000 into what she believes is a high-performing cryptocurrency platform — endorsed, apparently, by a well-known tech billionaire in a video shared widely on social media. A small business owner in Melbourne answers a call from “his bank’s fraud team” and, following their instructions to secure his account, watches $45,000 disappear. A couple in Brisbane receive an urgent voicemail from their daughter, crying and begging for help after a car accident — except their daughter is safe at home and never made the call.
These are not unusual stories. According to the National Anti-Scam Centre’s Targeting Scams Report, Australians reported $2.03 billion in combined scam losses in 2024 across Scamwatch, ReportCyber, ASIC, IDCARE and the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange — a 25.9 per cent decrease from 2023. Investment scams alone accounted for $945 million of that figure. But while combined losses fell year on year, the trend in 2025 has shifted. Between January and September 2025, Scamwatch recorded $259.5 million in losses from 20 per cent fewer reports, suggesting that each successful scam is hitting harder than before.
What makes modern scams so effective is not that people are careless. It is that the techniques have become extraordinarily convincing. Understanding how these schemes work — and recognising the patterns before they reach you — is one of the most practical things you can do to protect your wealth.
Investment Fraud: The Biggest Threat to Your Savings
Investment fraud remains the single largest category of scam losses in Australia. The methods vary, but the core mechanism is consistent: criminals create the appearance of a legitimate, high-performing investment opportunity, build trust over time, then disappear with the funds.
Consider how a typical scheme unfolds. You see an advertisement on social media — perhaps a sponsored post featuring a recognisable public figure apparently endorsing a trading platform. The ad links to a professional-looking website complete with market charts, account dashboards and client testimonials. You register your interest. Within hours, a well-spoken “account manager” calls to walk you through the platform and help you make a small initial deposit, often around $250 to $500.
Over the following weeks, your dashboard shows impressive returns. The account manager checks in regularly, building rapport and encouraging you to increase your investment. Some people are even allowed to make a small withdrawal early on — a deliberate tactic to build confidence. It is only when you try to withdraw a larger amount that the problems begin. Suddenly there are “tax obligations” or “release fees” that need to be paid before funds can be transferred. Communication becomes harder. Eventually, the platform goes dark.
The scale of these operations is significant. In 2024, the National Anti-Scam Centre referred more than 8,000 URLs for takedown, including over 2,000 investment-related scam websites referred to ASIC. But new ones appear constantly, and the speed at which criminals can build convincing digital storefronts means the window between launch and detection can be weeks — long enough to cause real damage.
The warning signs tend to be consistent. Unsolicited contact about investment opportunities, guaranteed or unusually high returns, pressure to act quickly, and platforms that are not listed on ASIC’s register of licensed financial services providers are all red flags. If someone you have never met is offering you access to a can’t-miss opportunity, the opportunity is almost certainly the scam itself.
Impersonation Scams: When Your Bank Is Not Your Bank
Impersonation scams exploit something fundamental: the trust we place in institutions we deal with every day. These scams involve criminals posing as representatives of banks, government agencies, telecommunications companies or even police, using spoofed phone numbers, official-looking text messages and convincing scripts to manipulate people into handing over money or personal information.
The mechanics are disturbingly simple. You receive a text message that appears to sit within your existing SMS thread from your bank, warning of suspicious activity on your account. You call the number provided — or a “fraud investigator” calls you — and you are walked through a series of steps to “secure” your funds. Those steps might involve transferring money to a “safe account,” providing one-time passwords, or installing remote-access software on your phone or computer. By the time you realise something is wrong, the funds are gone.
Phone-based scams accounted for the highest overall losses of any contact method reported to Scamwatch in early 2025, with $25.8 million lost in the first four months of the year. Phishing scams — where criminals impersonate banks, government agencies or other trusted organisations via text, email or fake websites — generated $13.7 million in losses over the same period, up sharply from $4.6 million in the corresponding months of 2024.
What catches people out is the apparent legitimacy. The caller ID shows your bank’s real number. The text appears in the same conversation thread as genuine messages. The language mirrors the kind of communication you would expect from a financial institution. But legitimate banks and government agencies will never ask you to transfer money to a different account for safety, provide passwords or PINs over the phone, or install software to “fix” a security issue. If you receive an unexpected call or message about your account, hang up and contact the institution directly using the number on your card or their official website.
Australia’s superannuation system holds roughly $4.3 trillion in retirement savings, and regulators are increasingly concerned that it is becoming a soft target for fraud. In 2025, Scamwatch received more than 800 super-related scam reports, with losses totalling $22 million.
Superannuation: An Emerging Target
Australia’s superannuation system holds roughly $4.3 trillion in retirement savings, and regulators are increasingly concerned that it is becoming a soft target for fraud. In 2025, Scamwatch received more than 800 super-related scam reports, with losses totalling $22 million.
ASIC issued a pointed warning to superannuation trustees in January 2025, noting that the industry had been slow to respond to evolving scam and fraud risks. A subsequent review of 47 super fund websites found that many lacked clear, accessible information to help members identify or report scams — with super funds scoring positively on only 40 to 60 per cent of measured criteria, compared to 80 per cent for the major banks.
The risks for members take several forms. Identity theft can be used to access super accounts, change contact details and redirect funds. Illegal early release schemes — often promoted through social media — promise to unlock super before preservation age in exchange for a fee, leaving members with depleted balances and potential tax penalties. And fraudulent rollover requests, where criminals impersonate members to transfer balances to accounts they control, have been flagged as a growing concern.
Protecting your super starts with basic digital hygiene. Use strong, unique passwords for your super fund login. Enable multi-factor authentication if your fund offers it. Monitor your account regularly for any unexpected changes to your contact details, beneficiary nominations or transaction history. And treat any unsolicited contact about your super — especially promises of early access — with deep scepticism.
The Scams Prevention Framework Act 2025, which received Royal Assent on 20 February 2025, introduced world-first obligations for banks, telcos and digital platforms to actively prevent, detect and disrupt scams — backed by penalties of up to $50 million per offence. Superannuation is not yet covered by the framework, but the government has indicated it may be included in future — a recognition that the sector needs stronger protections as scammers increasingly turn their attention to retirement savings.
The AI Factor: When You Cannot Trust Your Own Ears
Perhaps the most unsettling development in the scam landscape is the use of artificial intelligence to create synthetic voices and video. Voice cloning technology can now replicate a person’s speech patterns, accent and tone using as little as a few seconds of recorded audio — the kind of snippet readily available from a social media video, a voicemail greeting or even a conference presentation.
In practice, this means a scammer can call you sounding exactly like your spouse, your child or your business partner, describing an emergency that demands immediate financial help. Phone-based scams remain the costliest contact method in Australia, and AI-generated voice cloning is contributing to this threat. Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology have warned that voice cloning has become one of the most confronting tools in the scam toolkit, with criminals needing only a few seconds of recorded audio to produce a convincing replica. Studies have consistently found that the majority of people cannot reliably distinguish a cloned voice from a real one.
Deepfake video adds another layer. In 2025, fabricated videos of well-known Australian media personalities and health experts were used to promote fraudulent investment platforms and fake health products on social media. These videos looked and sounded authentic enough to fool thousands of people before being taken down.
The defence against AI-powered scams is fundamentally human. If you receive an unexpected call from someone you know asking for money — no matter how convincing it sounds — pause, hang up, and call that person back on a number you already have saved. Establishing a family code word or phrase for emergencies can provide an additional layer of verification that no AI can replicate. And be cautious about how much of your voice and likeness you share publicly online, particularly on platforms where content can be easily scraped.
Life Transitions Create Vulnerability
It is worth acknowledging that scam vulnerability is not about intelligence or age. Anyone going through a significant life transition — bereavement, divorce, retirement, a health scare, a job loss — can find themselves in a state where the usual critical thinking filters are weakened. Scammers understand this and deliberately target moments of emotional upheaval, financial uncertainty or isolation.
If you are navigating a major change and find yourself contacted about a financial opportunity, an urgent problem with one of your accounts, or an unexpected request for money, treat that timing itself as a warning sign. It may also be worth having a conversation with family members who are less digitally confident about common scam patterns and what to look out for — not from a place of alarm, but simply to share awareness.
Red Flags Worth Remembering
Certain patterns appear across almost every type of scam, regardless of how sophisticated the delivery. Be alert to unsolicited contact about your finances from someone you were not expecting to hear from. Urgency and pressure to act immediately, before you have time to think or verify, is a hallmark tactic. Requests to move money to a “safe” account, pay fees to release funds, or provide passwords and personal details over the phone should always prompt you to stop and check independently. Offers of guaranteed high returns with little or no risk are a reliable indicator that something is not what it seems. And if any communication asks you to keep the matter confidential or not discuss it with your adviser, that secrecy itself is the clearest warning of all.
Discussion Points for Your Adviser
Scam awareness sits naturally alongside broader wealth protection planning. Your adviser can help you think through a number of practical steps: reviewing the security settings on your superannuation and investment accounts, including passwords, multi-factor authentication and beneficiary nominations; ensuring your insurance coverage accounts for potential losses from fraud or identity theft; discussing how your broader financial plan would withstand an unexpected loss; and reviewing whether your estate planning documents — particularly powers of attorney — include appropriate safeguards against financial exploitation.
If you or someone you know has been affected by a scam, acting quickly matters. Contact your bank immediately to attempt to stop or recover funds. Report the scam to Scamwatch at scamwatch.gov.au to help disrupt the operation and protect others. If your identity has been compromised, contact IDCARE on 1800 595 160 for a tailored response plan. And let your adviser know — they can help you assess the financial impact and adjust your plan accordingly.
References
1. National Anti-Scam Centre. “Targeting Scams Report 2024.” ACCC, March 2025. Combined data from Scamwatch, ReportCyber, AFCX, IDCARE and ASIC.
2. National Anti-Scam Centre. “Australians report nearly $260M in losses as shopping scams surge.” ACCC media release, November 2025.
3. National Anti-Scam Centre. “National Anti-Scam Centre calls for stronger business role to disrupt scams.” ACCC media release, June 2025.
4. ASIC. “ASIC urges super trustees to step up and address serious gaps in anti-scam and fraud protections.” Media release 26-014MR, February 2026.
5. ASIC. “Letter to superannuation trustees: Protecting Australians against scams and fraud.” January 2025.
6. Scams Prevention Framework Act 2025 (Cth). Royal Assent 20 February 2025. Federal Register of Legislation, C2025A00015.
7. Swinburne University of Technology. Commentary on AI voice cloning scam risks, February 2026.
8. Scamwatch (scamwatch.gov.au). Consumer guidance on identifying, avoiding and reporting scams.
9. IDCARE (idcare.org). Australia’s national identity and cyber support service. 1800 595 160.
