Retirees lose hundreds of thousands to AI-powered deepfake and cryptocurrency scams

Retirees are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars to sophisticated scams powered by artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. In Australia, a retired psychologist named Michael lost $180,000 to a 12-month deepfake romance scam that used face-swapping and voice-cloning technology. Meanwhile, in Singapore, a retiree named James Ng lost over $70,000 to a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scheme promoted on TikTok. Experts urge older adults to seek advice from loved ones and use verification helplines to combat these highly emotional and technically advanced frauds.

Deepfake romance scams

• ▪Michael courted the online persona Melanie over a dating app for 12 months before exposing the profile as a deepfake created through identity theft and artificial intelligence.
• ▪A retired psychologist in his 70s named Michael, living in far north Queensland, lost $180,000 to an overseas deepfake romance scammer posing as a South African nurse named Melanie.

AI cryptocurrency investment fraud

• ▪James Ng was introduced to the cryptocurrency investment scheme by a woman who messaged him on TikTok in November 2025 and claimed to be based in Kuala Lumpur.
• ▪A 68-year-old Singaporean retiree named James Ng lost $70,755 of his savings to an investment scam involving a fake company that claimed to use artificial intelligence robots to mine cryptocurrency.

Scam technology mechanics

• ▪Scammers targeting Michael stole images from the social media profile of an American doctor and combined them with YouTube videos, voice-cloning technology, and face-swapping applications to create a digital mask for video calls.
• ▪The fake cryptocurrency platform used in the scam against James Ng claimed that users could not withdraw funds due to a slow internet connection, demanding further investments and taxes to release the money.

Victim financial losses

• ▪Michael sent $180,000 to scammers despite warnings from his bank and its repeated attempts to block the transactions.
• ▪James Ng lost $2,600 to a fake moneylender on TikTok whom he approached to borrow money to sustain his cryptocurrency investment, and later lost an additional $27,165 trying to recover his funds through a fake customer service agent.

Warning signs detection

• ▪Michael's doubts about the online persona Melanie were temporarily put to rest when the scammers shared a fake passport, a South African identity card, and a nurse registration certificate.
• ▪Dr. Priyanka Singh, a digital forensics specialist at the University of Queensland, identified visual discrepancies in the deepfake video call, including distortions in the earrings, a disappearing chair, and a hand that briefly appeared to have six fingers.

Prevention advice strategies

• ▪James Ng avoided a subsequent scam in April 2026 by calling the ScamShield Helpline to verify a $20,000 recovery offer from scammers pretending to be a scam recovery company.
• ▪Dr. Priyanka Singh advised that the best test when meeting someone online is to seek the opinion of loved ones rather than trying to scrutinize increasingly sophisticated technology.