Australian property buyers warned as scammers use AI voice cloning to steal deposits

It takes just one moment of vulnerability to fall victim to a cyber scam. The world may have entered into an existential debate over AI, but for most everyday Aussies, the threats of Artificial Intelligence are much closer to home. AI property scams remain a massive risk to anyone involved in a property transaction, whether they are buying, selling or working in the industry. And with the technology advancing at breakneck speed, it’s becoming more and more difficult to detect when you are being duped. AI PROPERTY SCAMS According to Scamwatch, any transactions involving large sums of money are key targets for scammers. A National Anti-Scam Centre (NASC) spokeswoman says payment redirection scams (also known as business email compromise scams), in which “scammers intercept or imitate emails or messages from legitimate service providers and issue the client with the scammer’s bank account details,” are one of the most common types of scams related to property purchases. “In 2025, Australians had $166.8m stolen by scammers through payment redirection scams (not solely property related),” the spokeswoman says. PEXA CISO Graham Fairley. PEXA CISO Graham Fairley says AI is being used by s...