[Jem Smith]

A local council in Queensland, Australia (where I live) lost $2.3 million of ratepayer funds to scammers who they say used AI to "imitate personalities". They weren't specific about the scam but nobody at the council got fired over it. It's kind of worrying for government officials, even in local government, to fall prey to something like that.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-14/noosa-council-scam-mayor-blames-ai-imitation/105887962

[Netherrealmer]

Great news because a lot of senior citizens, teenagers, and children have been victimized and scammed by AI. And the worst is there are even educated people who got scammed by AI. Almost every week I got a phone call from my mom asking me to verify the news if a certain celebrity is dead because there are so many clickbaiters on Facebook making fake news that a certain celebrity is dead.

[Jem Smith]

Great news because a lot of senior citizens, teenagers, and children have been victimized and scammed by AI. And the worst is there are even educated people who got scammed by AI. Almost every week I got a phone call from my mom asking me to verify the news if a certain celebrity is dead because there are so many clickbaiters on Facebook making fake news that a certain celebrity is dead.

Yeah, I've seen a lot of those clickbait dead celebrity posts. It's not even worth reporting them any more because Facebook doesn't care.

[Netherrealmer]

I have a relative who thinks that he is dating a woman from overseas. And when I saw who he's chatting with, it's obviously a scammer AI. I told him the truth, but he said, No, you're just jealous because I have a Caucasian girlfriend. Jeez. I want to tell him that that's a scammer. He's probably chatting either with a nerd who is good at PC that scams people or some AI. But he's so delusional.

[Fergal]

I have a relative who thinks that he is dating a woman from overseas. And when I saw who he's chatting with, it's obviously a scammer AI. I told him the truth, but he said, No, you're just jealous because I have a Caucasian girlfriend. Jeez. I want to tell him that that's a scammer. He's probably chatting either with a nerd who is good at PC that scams people or some AI. But he's so delusional.

Sounds like he will learn the hard way, maybe you should advise him that "she" will request money from him soon. That way, when the request for money comes, your relative will be forearned and hopfully prepared to look at it objectively.

[Angie10]

Wow, what a story!! For only about AUS$400k of the almost AUS$2.3-million to have been recovered, though! I'm also curious to know where the scam originated from because the article just says it was quickly squirreled away to a place abroad. Crazy!!

[Fergal]

I feel that the council in Queensland in be more transparent about what happened. If they shared more details of how the criminals managed to steal the money, it would alert others to the danger and make it more difficult for criminals to use similar tactics against other people. I really don't see many good reasons for not releasing more details about what has happened.

Victims of cyber attacks or scams like this always describe them as "sophisticated". They don't want to say that they were caught out by something simple.

I wonder if the council had provided any training to their staff, to alert them to the dangers of this kind of fraud.

[bestwriter]

Here in India we are strictly warned not to entertain emails that look like those coming from government and other such sources.

[germainebull]

This is a very sad situation and an eye-opener about the dangers of new technologies like AI. If government officials can be so easily fooled, then there must be an urgent shift in digital security. We need more vigilance and in-depth training for public servants.

The use of AI to mimic people is becoming increasingly widespread and can have serious consequences. Governments and public agencies must put in place robust systems to verify information and communications. This is not just a matter of technology, but also of accountability.