CANBERRA, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Australians lost millions of dollars to scams promoted in deep fake videos and fake news articles in 2023, a government agency has revealed.
Authorities on Friday warned Australians to be cautious of misinformation after the National Anti-Scam Centre revealed that 400 people reported losing over 8 million Australian dollars (5.2 million U.S. dollars) to online trading platform scams in 2023.
Catriona Lowe, deputy chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), said the scams work by using deep fake videos and fake news articles posted on social media to convince users that celebrities and well-known public figures endorse, and are making money using, investment trading platforms.
In one case reported to the government's Scamwatch service, an Australian man lost 80,000 AUD (52,255 USD) in cryptocurrency after investing it with a platform he saw being promoted by billionaire Elon Musk in a deep fake video.
When he tried to withdraw his money from the service the man was locked out of his account.
"We are urging Australians to take their time and do their research before taking up an investment opportunity -- particularly those seen on social media," Lowe said in a statement.
"These fake videos and news articles circulating on social media and video sharing platforms, often claim that the online trading platform uses artificial intelligence or other emerging technologies such as quantum computing to generate high returns for investors, but it is not true."
The ACCC and Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) in July 2023 established the National Anti-Scam Centre's investment scam fusion cell, which aims to disrupt investment scams.
Lowe said that since the cell was set up there had been a downward trend in losses to investment scams reported to Scamwatch. ■
