Sophie Monk and Robert Irwin unwittingly embroiled in investment scams

Television personalities have unwittingly landed in the middle of an elaborate investment scam being advertised on social media.

Television personalities Sophie Monk and Robert Irwin have unwittingly landed in the middle of sophisticated investment scams which are advertised on social media and designed to fleece millions of dollars from vulnerable Australians.

Banks have put pressure on the government to introduce tougher penalties for social media companies that fail to detect and block fraudsters from their platforms.

According to the ACCC, Australians lost almost $35 million to investment scams between April and June last year.

The latest scam appeared on X on Monday and was designed to look like a legitimate news.com.au article, but with a completely different URL, and falsely claimed Monk divulged her secret investment strategies during an interview with Karl Stefanovic.

Sophie Monk has been featured in a scam designed to fleece millions from Australians, as pictured here.

A scam involving photos and fake quotes from Sophie Monk has been allowed to thrive on X.

According to the false article, executives at the “Central Bank of Australia” - which is not the name of a real bank - demanded the segment be taken down due to fears people would stop using banks if they knew about the strategy.

Readers were lied to and told Monk herself provided a link to the fake investment platform, Intermediate FastX, and encouraged to visit the site and deposit their hard-earned cash. Once transferred, the victim never sees it again and has little hope of recuperating the funds.

The article included a number of doctored screenshots of Monk during an interview with Stefanovic, along with a fake transcript to trick readers into thinking the interview was legitimate.

The scam includes photos of Sophie Monk being interviewed on television, as pictured.

Scammers tried to fool Australians into thinking Karl Stefanovic showed Monk a screenshot of his investments. It was a false image.

A false text exchange between Sophie Monk and Karl Stefanovic was also shared on X. The post was designed to look like it came from news.com.au.

Social media ads promoting the article were also designed to look like posts from news.com.au and from Monk. One post included a false text exchange during which Stefanovic urged Monk to think about the social repercussions of sharing her investment strategies on TV.

“People deserve to know how they can start making real money, and not break their backs doing it,” the false exchange read.

A similar scam, also advertised on X on Monday, involved false articles about Irwin which falsely claimed he was sued by the banks for revealing his investment strategies.

False articles about Robert Irwin have been seen on X, as pictured.

A number of social media users on Monday were able to determine the information was false. However, the ACCC’s Scamwatch reported investment scams were the most profitable for fraudsters who sometimes use images of celebrities without their knowledge.

In November, the Albanese government introduced legislation to punish banks, social media platforms and telcos that don’t take reasonable steps to find and block scams operating in their businesses.

The legislation, which includes fines of up to $50 million for non-compliance, is at a committee stage and yet to pass parliament.

Australian Banking Association CEO Anna Bligh said it “beggars belief” that these scams are allowed to appear on social media.

“Enough is enough. We need to see more action from social media platforms to block these scams ads,” she told this masthead.

“If the platforms are serious about protecting Australians, they should be doing more to ensure people aren’t being exposed to these scams in the first place.”

Monk, Irwin and X have been contacted for comment.

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Originally published as Sophie Monk and Robert Irwin unwittingly embroiled in investment scams