NAB has pinned AI-driven scams and new evolutions of cryptocurrency investment scams as key trends to watch out for in 2025.
The bank has released it’s big five scams that Australians should look out for in 2025, with AI and crypto scams taking out the first two spots, followed by bucket list, remote access and ever-evolving phishing scams.
NAB group investigations executive Chris Sheehan said there were common red flags among the different scams.
“Criminals create urgency to act quickly,” Mr Sheehan, a former Australian Federal Police executive, said.
“It could be creating FOMO (fear of missing out) that resold concert tickets will go quickly, that’ll you miss the next big crypto investment opportunity or that there’s a problem with your bank account and you need to move your money elsewhere,” he said.
Mr Sheehan said another common red flag across different scam types is that the contact is unexpected.
“For example, an out-of-the blue phone call from an ‘internet provider’ to fix your connection,” he said.
“Once funds are sent it’s often very hard to recover money, despite our best efforts. Criminals quickly send it to overseas accounts or to cryptocurrency platforms knowing it makes it harder to retrieve. That’s why we need all parts of the scam ecosystem taking action to stop the crime before it happens.”
Mr Sheehan said AI could be used in all different scam types.
“Criminals are using AI to create deep fake videos impersonating high profile Australians and create images used in sextortion,” he said.
“Three seconds of audio from a video or a voicemail or an image from social media is enough for criminals to get to work.”
For more tips and advice on how to avoid scams, visit: news.nab.com.au/news/explainer-five-scams-to-watch-in-2025/
