The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has reported in the first six months of this year it received 7561 reports of misconduct, raising 11,060 issues.
More than half of the reported issues, or 5909, were in the financial services and retail investor category. This category includes credit issues, licence obligations and other conduct related to advice, insurance and misleading and deceptive or unconscionable behaviour.
SMSFs are on the regulator’s radar, with auditor concerns for those funds featuring on a list of six issues chosen by ASIC for further consideration in the past six months. Misconduct exploiting superannuation savings is also on its list of enforcement priorities for 2025.
“The data underscores why many of ASIC’s enforcement priorities focus on consumer and retail investor protection,” ASIC chair Joe Longo explained.
“This data shows exactly why we regularly issue consumer warnings and update our advice through Moneysmart to help empower consumers and protect them.”
In its latest enforcement and regulatory update, ASIC also reported 14,000 scam and phishing websites have been removed since its takedown capability began two years ago. On average, it removes 130 malicious sites every week.
This capability is now being expanded to social media ads, which ASIC indicated would help prevent consumers being directed to online investment scam sites.
ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court pointed out: “Expanding our investment scam takedown capability to social media ads will help safeguard Australian consumers.
“ASIC’s traditional toolkit – investigations, court actions, administrative actions – are important, but they can’t combat the scourge of online scams on their own.”
The top five online investment scam trends the regulator has identified through its takedown activity over the past six months are: AI washing, in which claims are made that trading bots can generate unachievable returns; scam website templates; using third-party information to look legitimate; fake news articles with fake celebrity endorsement; and cloaking, where scammers change content dependent on the location and device used to access their sites.
“While the latest data shows the coordinated work of the National Anti-Scam Centre is making progress in the fight against scams, there is still more work to do and we urge Australians to stay vigilant,” Court acknowledged.
