Scams and Fraud

The federal government is consulting on major reforms to reduce financial abuse, including making it harder for directors to be appointed without clear consent. Economic abuse is estimated to cost the economy nearly $11 billion a year

Thousands of young Indonesians want the chance to come to Australia to work, but first they have to win a visa application "war" that puts them in the sights of scammers and dodgy operators promising them what they want — for a price.

A year after Gold Coast Council was victim to a fraud attack, Noosa Council was also targeted by a sophisticated artificial intelligence scam. 

The NSW accountant siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars from clients via false ATO lodgements over three years.

Two women, including one claiming to be a fortune teller and feng shui master, have been charged for allegedly defrauding $70 million from a "vulnerable" Vietnamese community in Sydney.

The 53-year-old told clients a "billionaire" was in their future, allegedly persuading them to take out financial loans before keeping a share for herself.

The US has accused She Zhijiang of turning a village on the Thailand-Myanmar border into a resort city "custom-built for gambling, drug trafficking, prostitution, and scams targeting people around the world".

Myanmar junta bombing of a scam centre is little more than "political theatre" to appease the international community, an expert says.

A deepfake AI video of WA Premier Roger Cook endorsing an investment scam has appeared as a pop-up advertisement on YouTube, using his likeness and voice to encourage people to sign up for the "low investment, high return, real results" opportunity.

WA's consumer watchdog says scams are getting more sophisticated and cheaper to make, as an AI video of state premier Roger Cook sparks new concerns. 

Users of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are exposed to fraudulent e-commerce and investment schemes, illegal online casinos, and the sale of banned medical products.

After being smashed by giant hail, south-east Queensland residents are being warned to be aware.

A Shenzhen court has sentenced five people to death for their involvement in a violent criminal gang with fraud operations in Myanmar, Chinese state media says.

AUSTRAC says crypto ATMs have emerged as a major money-laundering risk, with criminals using them to scam money from a growing number of mostly elderly victims.

A Perth businessman who defrauded clients of more than $34 million in what was described as a "Ponzi scheme" has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.

A woman who used credit cards from the childcare centre where she worked to purchase personal clothes and cosmetics has been sentenced to jail.

A pensioner tells her nightmarish story as the financial crimes regulator takes action against a second Australian player in the booming crypto ATM business linked to lucrative scams and money laundering.

South Australian police charge two people with deception after they allegedly found more than 30 counterfeit notes — as well as an imitation firearm and a machete — at a home on Yorke Peninsula.

Within minutes of requesting a refund for an unsavoury holiday stay, a Booking.com customer was hoodwinked into providing her bank details to a scam artist.  

Hard-working and charismatic former politician Troy Bell was so well liked, he was twice re-elected while awaiting trial for stealing public money. Now, he joins a short list of former SA politicians who have served time for crime.