AI in action · Investor protection

Scammers Are Now Deepfaking the Regulators Themselves

Malaysia's central bank and securities regulator warned on October 14, 2026 that deepfake videos of their own senior officials are being used to sell investment schemes. A month earlier, Oregon's financial regulator listed the AI tricks behind a new wave of fraud.

Oct 16, 2026

The oldest rule of investment fraud is to borrow someone else's credibility. On October 14, 2026, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Securities Commission Malaysia issued a joint warning that fraudsters had taken that rule to its logical end: deepfake videos showing the regulators' own senior officials promoting private investment schemes and financial products.

Both institutions said they never promote or recommend private investment schemes. They told the public to check the central bank's Financial Consumer Alert List and the Commission's Investor Alert List, to confirm that any firm is authorised before paying it, and to report the videos to the platforms or to the regulators. "Members of the public are advised to verify the legitimacy of entities before investing to avoid falling victim to scams," the central bank said, as reported by The Vibes.

The warning echoes one from the other side of the world. On September 14, Oregon's Division of Financial Regulation described the AI tools now common in investment fraud: deepfake videos of celebrities and executives, cloned voices on the phone, AI-driven romance scams that end with an investment pitch, and "proprietary" or "guaranteed" AI trading systems whose dashboards show balances that do not exist.

Oregon's list of red flags is short and worth memorising: unusual facial movements or lip-sync in a video, requests to pay in crypto, pressure to act before missing out, sellers who are not registered, and offers to "recover" money already lost, which are usually a second scam by the same people. "Artificial intelligence may make a scam look more sophisticated, but the warning signs of investment fraud remain familiar," said TK Keen, the division's administrator.

The practical defence does not depend on spotting the fake. A regulator will not endorse an investment in a video, and a legitimate firm can be found on the regulator's public register. If the only proof that an opportunity is real is the face of the person recommending it, that is no longer proof of anything.

Sources: The Vibes — BNM, SC warn of deepfake videos using senior officials to promote investment scams (Oct 14, 2026); Fintech News Malaysia — BNM and SC deepfake warning; Oregon Division of Financial Regulation — DFR warns investors about AI-powered investment scams (Sep 14, 2026)