Scams and Fraud

Tech giant Meta ran advertisements used to lure Australian investors into a fraudulent bond scheme that allegedly defrauded tens of millions of dollars from them.

A convicted conman tells a court he was trying "to keep up an appearance" as he pleads guilty to forgery and fraud charges in a Tasmanian court.

The founder of a Tasmanian distillery behind an alleged investor fraud scheme has pleaded not guilty to 736 criminal offences.

Multi-level marketing networks have been around for decades. But their business models are changing, with consumer advocates warning that the industry is rife with predatory tactics. We want to hear about your experiences with MLMs.

A global multi-level-marketing business that sells expensive water ionisers is shifting its target audience to Aussie tradies, but critics say some of their predatory sales tactics are tantamount to a pyramid scheme.

An elderly Perth accountant who stole nearly $10 million from family, friends and former clients is jailed for more than 11 years.

The Australian Telecommunications and Media Authority says scammers were able to manipulate the telco's systems to bypass required identity verification processes.

Frustrated retailers grappling with online shoplifters are calling for better protections from banks, payment providers and regulators.

Small business owners tell business reporter Adelaide Miller they have lost thousands of dollars to fraudulent chargebacks — that is, online shoppers disputing legitimate transactions and receiving a refund.

Organisations using branded identifiers in their text messages to consumers will need to register them by July 1, 2026, or risk being mistaken for a scam.

With Australians expected to spend billions this Black Friday, the consumer watchdog is warning about a growing number of "ghost stores" targeting unsuspecting shoppers and posing as local businesses promising premium goods, when in reality they are shipping fast fashion from overseas.

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.