ASIC Helps Strengthen The Fight Against Imposter Scams In Financial Services

ASIC is making it easier to check if a website of an Australian financial services (AFS) licensee such as a bank, investment platform or super fund, is legitimate.

Criminals are increasingly copying the names, licence numbers and websites of AFS licensees to create fake websites and publish investment scam advertisements.

ASIC is collecting and publishing website addresses of AFS licensees on its Professional Registers Search (PRS), with more than 6,500 AFS licensees invited to provide their website details since launching in early May.

‘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 ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland.

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

ASIC is urging every AFS licensee to participate and aims to have most AFS licensee website addresses added to the PRS within the coming months.

‘ASIC recognises the importance of having a complete register for businesses and consumers. We may consider using compulsory powers to achieve a complete register, if required,’ Commissioner Kirkland said.

'Scams are an economy-wide problem and demand an economy-wide response. ASIC is encouraging consumers engaging with AFS licensees whose website addresses aren’t listed to ask them why not.’

The website addresses are available on ASIC’s PRS. The PRS shows:

• An AFS licensee’s principal website and other websites (if provided)
• Whether an AFS licensee does not operate a website, and/or
• Whether an AFS licensee has not yet supplied their website addresses.

If a website claiming to belong to an AFS licensee is not listed on the PRS, consumers and businesses should be cautious and should contact the AFS licensee using details from their principal website on the PRS (if available) or conduct further research.

Website addresses for authorised representatives are not included in the initiative. However, AFS licensees may publish information on their own websites to help consumers verify the websites of their authorised representatives.

Consumers and businesses can search the PRS using an AFS licensee’s name, ABN, ACN or AFS licence number and then check the ‘Principal website’ field and the ‘Websites’ section to confirm if a website address is genuine.

AFS licensees can voluntarily add their website addresses through the Regulatory Portal by submitting a Notify Change of Details of an Australian financial services licence transaction.

This initiative forms part of ASIC’s broader work to reduce scams and protect consumers from financial harm. It also comes as new quarterly data from Scamwatch and ReportCyber shows there was a combined total of 60,657 scam reports in the first three months of 2026, with reported losses of $248.3 million.

Since its launch in late 2023, approximately 20% of all new Moneysmart investor alert listings involve impersonation of an ASIC licensee, a licensee’s authorised representative and/or a registered company, highlighting the importance of having a trusted source of website addresses.

Support for businesses impacted by scams

ASIC has also launched new online resources to help businesses avoid and respond to scams.

These resources bring together ASIC’s scam alerts and warnings, and information about ASIC’s scam disruption, reviews and enforcement work.

They are designed to support businesses that have been impersonated and targeted by scams.

These resources complement, but do not replace Moneysmart, which remains ASIC’s source of scams information for consumers.

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