Sixteen Australians have lost more than $2.7 million in the past two weeks to pump-and-dump share scams, the corporate regulator says, recruited through fake celebrity endorsements and tipped into thinly traded overseas stocks through private WhatsApp groups.
The mechanics are simple and the victims pay for both ends of the trade. A social media ad, often fronted by an AI-generated video of a familiar finance identity, invites investors into a messaging group. The group's "tips" point to obscure stocks on real overseas exchanges, bought through legitimate brokers. The scammers bought in first, and they sell out as the money floods in, according to figures and detail the Australian Securities and Investments Commission gave SBS and AAP on Friday.
“With AI, it's much easier to generate a fake endorsement video from a celebrity or from a finance expert that looks like it's the real person making a recommendation when it is in fact fake," ASIC commissioner Alan Kirkland said.”
"We suspect scammers are deliberately targeting Australians nearing retirement. They know many people in this age group have accumulated retirement savings."
The design defeats the usual warning signs. "Many victims don't realise they're being scammed because they genuinely own the shares they've purchased," Kirkland said. "The loss occurs when the scammers sell out and the share price collapses. Investors are left holding shares worth a fraction of what they paid."
The faces on the fake videos are real people. Market analyst Tom Piotrowski, now with NAB's nabtrade, Barefoot Investor author Scott Pape and mining billionaire Andrew Forrest have all been impersonated. "It breaks your heart," Piotrowski told AAP. "These fraudsters prey on people who have a passing familiarity with the share market, but they don't know enough." Pape was blunter about the fakes carrying his face: "I'm not even on social media."
ASIC chair Sarah Court put the test simply. "If you're receiving stock tips through WhatsApp, Telegram or another messaging service, particularly after responding to a social media post, you should assume it's a scam," she said.
The fortnight's losses sit inside a much larger ledger. Australians lost $2.18 billion to scams in 2025, the National Anti-Scam Centre's Targeting Scams report found, and investment scams were the biggest single category at $837.7 million. ASIC had 11,964 phishing and investment scam websites taken down last year, close to double the previous period's count, and flagged a surge in pump-and-dump activity in December, warning that operators favour small stocks with low liquidity because a single rumour moves the price.
The regulator says it is running real-time surveillance of small-cap trading and matching trade data against social media activity. For investors, the checks are shorter. Anyone recommending specific shares must hold an Australian financial services licence, which can be verified on ASIC's public register, and suspected scams can be reported to Scamwatch. The $2.7 million is what has been reported in a fortnight. Kirkland's warning is that many victims do not yet know they are among them.
