Australia goes after fake casinos scamming people

• Australia is setting up a new taskforce to target online casinos designed to scam vulnerable users
• Nearly 50% of all people reporting losses to such scams are First Nations Australians
• Losses to such scams are mounting as well, Australia has noted

Australia has been putting pressure on offshore gambling operators abroad, targeting local influencers, and is now working to dismantle a new pernicious operation that has been targeting First Nations Australians.

First Nation Australian among the biggest demographic of victims

The National Anti-Scam Center, operating under the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, has launched a new taskforce, which is aimed at shutting down scammers that launch fake gambling websites that accept money from customers and never release those funds.

The scam operates on familiar tropes, with the websites accepting deposits, limiting players and then blocking withdrawals - asking for additional funds to release the current bankroll a player may have.

Commenting on the creation of the taskforce, ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe had this to add:

"The fusion cell’s work will create a clearer picture of how the scams operate, the impact they’re having on Australians, the factors that are enabling them and how they can be disrupted."

The new initiative comes at a time when the incidence of such fraudulent operations has been climbing up with 806 incidents reported in 2025, up from the 677 recorded in 2024. Losses in 2025 reached AUD$1.6m, triple the size of the 2024 amount - AUD$449,000.

The taskfroce will further assess how these scam operations run, what they do to attract customers, and how they coax players into spending money.

Even more importantly, 45% of the reported losses were accumulated by users who said that they were First Nations individuals, discovering a clear pattern of malice and intention in the scammers.

Part of the issue that Australians face right now has to do with the fact that there are no online casinos.

ACMA, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, is going after offshore casinos and sportsbooks that are operating in the country without a license, while also targeting influencers who share links to such websites.

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