‘It breaks your heart’: scammers fake a real economist

By Kaaren Morrissey

Online fraudsters are at it again, trying to lure older Australians with fake celebrity endorsements and investment tips.

The number of so-called ”pump and dump” scams being reported to the financial regulator has soared recently, causing it great concern.

“We suspect scammers are deliberately targeting Australians nearing retirement,” Australian Securities and Investments commissioner Alan Kirkland said.

“They know many people in this age group have accumulated retirement savings and are looking for investment opportunities.”

The scammers use social media and messaging apps to promote dubious money-making ideas by impersonating well-known experts or celebrities and financial institutions.

High-profile economist and markets analyst Tom Piotrowski is just one of those whose names and images have been hijacked to lure potential victims.

Mr Piotrowski, who recently joined National Australia Bank’s nabtrade arm from CommSec, has been a television regular, providing viewers with updates on the financial markets and the economy.

“It breaks your heart,” he said.

“These fraudsters prey on people who have a passing familiarity with the share market, but they don’t know enough.

“I can’t tell you how heartbreaking it is to think that hard-working people are having to deal with this; it’s really terrible.”

In the past few days, authorities have had more than a dozen reports related to pump and dump scams, with losses potentially running into the millions.

Some of the most common involve impersonations of Mr Piotrowski, who is intent on raising awareness of their tactics.

Financial counsellor, top-selling author and columnist Scott Pape, also known as the Barefoot Investor, has also been impersonated by scammers.

Just six weeks ago, Mr Pape warned that there were hundreds of deepfake artificial intelligence posts online offering fake financial advice.

“I’m not even on social media,” he wrote on his website.

A similar case involves iron ore magnate Andrew ”Twiggy” Forrest, who’s spent millions fighting the social media giant Meta over the proliferation of deepfake AI videos or ads making it look as though he’s urging people to sign up for automated trading bots or cryptocurrency platforms.

Unlike many investment scams – where funds are transferred directly to criminals – pump and dump schemes often involve the purchase of genuine shares traded on real exchanges, through legitimate brokerage accounts.

“Many victims don’t realise they’re being scammed because they genuinely own the shares they’ve purchased,” Mr Kirkland said.

“The loss occurs when the scammers sell out and the share price collapses.”

A quick way to work out who you’re really dealing with is to ask the person for their Australian Financial Services licence, which many scammers don’t know and can be verified on ASIC’s website.

Further advice can be found on ASIC’s ScamWatch website.

According to the National Anti-Scam Centre, Australians lost $2.18 billion to scams in 2025, including $837.7 million to investment scams alone.

In December 2025, four people who used Telegram app group chats to pump up the prices of Australian stocks before dumping them at inflated prices were convicted and sentenced to jail.

HOW MOST PUMP AND DUMP SCAMS WORK:

* A person sees an investment opportunity on social media

* The post uses the image of a well-known commentator, investor or financial institution to build credibility

* The opportunity is actually fraudulent, generated by the scammers

* The consumer clicks the post and is directed to a messaging platform such as WhatsApp

* A scammer impersonating the expert provides stock recommendations, often on foreign exchanges

* Fake investors, often part of the scammer’s team, post messages about their supposed profits to build credibility and reel the victim in

* The victim buys the recommended shares, causing the share price to rise (scammers often ask for screenshots or proof of purchase)

* The scammers suddenly sell their existing holdings at the inflated price, causing the price to collapse

* The victim is left holding shares worth significantly less than what they paid

WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE SCAMMED

* Call your bank as soon as you realise it’s a scam

* Seek support through ID Care if you need to recover your identity

* Help others by reporting scams to Scamwatch

* Unfortunately, scammers are often overseas and out of reach of Australian law

* The chances of getting your money back are very low

Source: ASIC