ASIC moves to strengthen defences against financial scams

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has launched a new initiative aimed at helping consumers identify legitimate financial services websites and reducing the growing threat of imposter scams across the sector.

ASIC is now collecting and publishing website addresses for Australian financial services (AFS) licensees through its Professional Registers Search (PRS), allowing consumers to verify whether a website belongs to a licensed financial services provider before engaging with it.

The move comes as scammers increasingly replicate the names, license numbers and websites of legitimate financial firms to create convincing fake websites and fraudulent investment and advertisements.

ASIC commissioner Alan Kirkland said the initiative would make it easier for Australians to distinguish genuine financial services providers from scammers.

"As the website addresses of more AFS licensees are collected, Australians will be able to more easily distinguish a genuine financial services website from a scam or imposter website by checking against website addresses listed on ASIC's register," said Kirkland.

"It will also support businesses, including digital and social media platforms, to strengthen verification processes for financial services advertising," he said.

More than 6500 AFS licensees have been invited to submit their website details since the initiative launched in May, with ASIC aiming to add the majority of licensee websites to the register in coming months.

Kirkland said ASIC could consider using compulsory powers if necessary to achieve a complete register.

The initiative forms part of ASIC's broader anti-scam strategy and comes amid persistent scam activity. New data from Scamwatch and ReportCyber showed Australians lodged a combines 60,657 scam reports in the first quarter of 2026, with reported losses reaching $248.3 million.

ASIC said approximately one in five new investor alerts published through its Moneysmart service since late 2023 have involved the impersonation of an ASIC licensee, authorised representative or registered company.

Consumers can search the PRS using a firm's name, ABN, ACN or AFS licence number and compare website details before investing. ASIC is also encouraging businesses targeted by impersonation scams to utilise new online resources designs to support scam prevention and response efforts.