A fabricated article featuring Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock and ABC finance presenter Alan Kohler discussing an unlicensed cryptocurrency platform exemplifies a scam epidemic powered by deepfakes and generative AI, ASIC said on Friday.

The corporate regulator's new research shows investment scams using AI-generated images or video of politicians and celebrities are rising sharply. ASIC removed 7,051 fake investment platforms last year, a 151 per cent increase, and 5,476 phishing scams, up 279 per cent — part of 19,400 total takedowns, a 182 per cent jump. Kohler, who has previously documented a fake AI video of Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn, is among the most commonly impersonated Australians, alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor, Pauline Hanson and others.

ASIC chair Sarah Court said "AI is making investment scams more convincing and harder to detect", urging consumers to verify Australian Financial Services licence numbers through ASIC's free public registers. Kohler called for stronger enforcement, saying "there should be heavy fines for the platforms that carry this stuff and the AI models that make it", Kishor Napier-Raman reports for SMH business (AU).