The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has expanded its scam website takedown program to include social media advertisements as part of its efforts to protect Australians from online investment scams. The announcement was included in the regulator’s enforcement and regulatory update released on August 21.
Since the launch of its takedown capability two years ago, ASIC has removed more than 14,000 investment scam and phishing websites. The regulator said it continues to take down an average of 130 malicious sites every week.
ASIC’s analysis of the scam landscape over the past six months highlighted five key trends. These include claims of artificial intelligence-driven trading bots that promise passive income and unrealistic returns, the use of ready-made website templates with fake corporate documents and chatbot tools, and the embedding of legitimate third-party content such as live trading charts to create a sense of credibility. Scammers are also creating fake news articles with AI-generated images of celebrities or well-known Australians to collect personal information, while others use cloaking techniques to show different content to users depending on their location or device type to avoid detection.
“ASIC is shutting down around 130 of these investment scam websites every week”
ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said expanding the takedown service is a necessary step to disrupt scammers before they reach investors. “Expanding our investment scam takedown capability to social media ads will help safeguard Australian consumers,” she said. “ASIC is shutting down around 130 of these investment scam websites every week which means we are shutting down pathways to reach Australians. ASIC’s traditional toolkit – investigations, court actions, administrative actions – are important, but they can’t combat the scourge of online scams on their own. The takedown capability is one example of how we are monitoring the latest trends and acting to protect Australians from those who try to steal from them. While the latest data shows the coordinated work of the National Anti-Scam Centre is making progress in the fight against scams, there is still more work to do, and we urge Australians to stay vigilant.”
Investment scams remain the type of scam causing the greatest financial loss for Australians. Data from the National Anti-Scam Centre shows Australians lost $945 million to these scams in 2024. While overall scam losses have fallen by 25.9 percent compared with 2022, when losses peaked at $3.1 billion, ASIC said scammers continue to evolve their tactics and use advanced technology to target victims.
ASIC advised consumers to recognize warning signs before engaging with investment opportunities. It recommended caution when encountering testimonials, celebrity endorsements or websites that appear professional, taking time to research before investing, and avoiding offers made through messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram. The regulator also urged investors to verify whether a company is licensed to provide the investment, to check for alerts on its Moneysmart Investor Alert List, and to make sure they understand how an investment works before proceeding.
Between July 2023 and June 2025, ASIC coordinated the removal of more than 14,000 scam-related websites and online ads. This included approximately 8,330 fake investment platform scams, 2,465 phishing links and 3,015 cryptocurrency investment scams.
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