Australia’s securities regulator ASIC disclosed that it removed 3,106 fraudulent crypto and investment platforms and over 19,400 online scams in the 2026 fiscal year, a 182% year-on-year increase, driven largely by generative-AI deepfake videos impersonating trusted public figures including the Prime Minister, a prominent journalist, and the central bank governor. Using an ‘audio grafting’ technique, scammers keep authentic video of a public figure intact while replacing the audio with AI-cloned speech promising outsized returns, funneling victims through fake news sites to bogus trading platforms. Scams tied to the ten most-impersonated names alone were linked to more than A$7.4 million (approximately US$4.8 million) in reported losses, part of Australia’s A$2.18 billion in total 2025 scam losses.