Images of the finance minister, Katy Gallagher, and the foreign minister, Penny Wong, have been used in deepfake investment scam videos in the latest examples of a concerning trend of politicians being used in online fraud.
Stephen Jones, the federal minister responsible for anti-scam work, has warned that artificial intelligence could “turbocharge” fraud and has flagged looming reforms to compel social media companies to do more. But at least one version of the McKenzie ad was boosted with up to A$15,000 in paid ad spending and reached up to 250,000 Australians.
A similarly manipulated video, using the same font and visual style, appears to show Gallagher conducting a television interview with the ABC. The video promises “$36,000 monthly to every citizen who invests $400” under what the scam claims is an “anti-inflation plan” devised by the government. That ad reached up to 2,000 people.